


How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now

by elliot_cant_write



Series: Cold War AU kinda [2]
Category: Hamilton - Fandom, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, That seemed like a lot of characters, artist!eliza, because why not, cold war au, hamilton runs a newspaper and it's GREAT, i offer paul revere all my apologies, journalist!Angelica, probably lots of unnecessary shout outs to my historical faves, rival newspapers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 43,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8997499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliot_cant_write/pseuds/elliot_cant_write
Summary: Angelica gets a job writing for Alexander Hamilton's newspaper, writing under a false name as at other papers she found that she was unable to get her articles taken seriously. She is started off slow, however when an injustice is discovered at a rivaling paper, suddenly the stakes become much higher.Formally called Alias because I have no idea how to title. Or summarise, for that matter.





	1. Chapter 1

When Eliza had originally met Alexander Hamilton, she had thought him to be insufferably annoying. Even the man himself admitted that they met under horrible circumstances; they were at a debate team meeting and he had gotten a little too emotionally invested and ended up yelling quite a bit. Eliza thought of herself as a fairly easy-going person, but even she had her limits. She didn't hate Alexander, she just wanted to avoid him as much as possible.  
That was in their senior year of high school. At graduation, Alexander was valedictorian (to the surprise of no one, seeing as the only other student to pass through the school with grades that high had been the previous year's valedictorian, Aaron Burr) and he gave an almost hour-long speech on the topic of equality and what their generation could do for the future. Eliza wasn't positive she had understood the whole thing, but somewhere along the line he had mentioned something that caught her sister Angelica's attention.  
Angelica was a feminist, though not in the traditional sense. She couldn't stand the mainstream groups and their instance that they were the height of equality while simultaneously tuning out the needs of anyone different from themselves. So she operated as a consulting writer of sorts, giving articles to any smaller groups whose ideals she agreed with. Unfortunately, the number that actually met her standards was quite small.  
Apparently Alexander's adopted father owned a newspaper. One that Alexander was supposed to eventually take over. However his father was ageing and even when he went off to college, Alexander was already managing a decently large amount of the business.  
Angelica, against all of Eliza's protests, went up to him after the graduation. Alexander was with a few of his friends, but he agreed to step away from them for a few minutes to talk to her. Eliza wasn't sure what exactly was discussed, but it ended in Angelica smiling ecstatically and pulling the boy into a crushing hug.  
Over the following few weeks Eliza ended up seeing quite a bit of Alexander, more than she previously would have liked to. While she wasn't as strong of a writer -or, as much as she hated to admit it, as strong of a feminist- as her sister, Eliza was proud to say that she illustrated the articles Angelica wrote. Nothing major, but they did make the works more eye-catching and therefore it was more likely that they would be read even by those who otherwise would not have been particularly interested in the cause. Alexander seemed thrilled by this when he found out and immediately asked her to sit in on their meetings, if it was alright with Angelica of course.  
Whether or not Angelica would agree was hardly of concern. All three of the Schuyler sisters were extremely close and had been ever since their parents were killed in a fire when Angelica was only seventeen. They used the money left to them by their parents to buy a house and were about as independent as three young women could possibly be, with Eliza and Angelica playing the primary role in raising sixteen year old Peggy. They worked wonderfully together and breaking that partnership would be a truly dreadful choice.  
Alexander was amazing to watch. He had such a way with words, rapidly getting across ideas that never possible could have crossed Eliza's mind. He wanted to permanently hire Angelica, only under a false name. It was awful and he went to great lengths to show how much he hated it, but the fact remained that the general public would take her the most seriously if they thought her to be a man.  
(Eliza and Peggy had great fun with coming up with an alias; they were up late that night debating back and forth before settling on George Shirtliffe, after Deborah Sampson.)  
It wasn't ideal and Eliza could tell she resented it but they both could also see the logic behind it.  
When the evening drew to a close and Eliza went to walk Alexander to the door, he surprised her by lingering on the porch.  
"I just wanted to say I'm really sorry," He said, obviously uncomfortable and Eliza bit back a comment about how unused he seemed to apologising. "I know we were never particularly on good terms when we were in school but I do hope all of that can be left in the past. I truly think you, your sister, and I could make a brilliant team." He hesitantly held out his hand and Eliza lightly took it, beginning to smile.  
"The past is hardly important," She said with a shrug, "And we're on the same side in this fight. Consider all of your past unfortunate actions forgotten."  
At that Alexander laughed. "Miss Schuyler, I feel you will prove to be an exceptionally interesting person. I look forward to working with you."  
It was entirely against her will and she resented it, but Eliza felt her mouth curling into a smile. "And I you, Mr Hamilton."  
He dropped her hand and made a gesture that looked as if he was going for a bow initially but changed his mind at the last-minute. It was at once amusing and endearing, which Eliza also resented. Angelica always said she was a romantic at heart, but this was frankly obnoxious. When he left and Eliza stepped back inside, she had to take a few more minutes than she was willing to admit to force the smile from her face. When she stepped back into the living room, Peggy practically tackled her.  
"What was Hamilton doing here? Is he going to hire Angie? Can I help?"  
Eliza positioned herself on the couch, Peggy next to her. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait for Angelica to answer some of that, but-" She dropped her voice to a whisper. "-I think you're going to have a lot more to read over soon."  
Peggy squealed, wrapping her arms around her older sister. "Oh my gosh, that's so exciting!"  
They heard laughter from the doorway and turned to see Angelica. "I see she told you the news?"  
Peggy nodded, jumping up and practically skipping over to Angelica. "I can help, right?"  
Angelica looked over at Eliza, silently conveying that they would need to have a more in-depth conversation on the matter later. She turned back to Peggy. "Try not to get so far ahead of yourself. We don't even know for sure if Alexander's father will agree to letting me write for them." When Peggy's face began to fall, Angelica gave her a warm smile. "Don't look so downtrodden. If anything, you should be excited that Alexander is even willing to go to such lengths for us. And, of course, to help come up with a byline."  
At that Peggy seemed to perk up. "Can we do that now? I know it's getting late, but I don't have school tomorrow."  
For a second Eliza thought she saw a look of absolute exhaustion cross her sister's face but it was gone so quickly she didn't have any time to try to analyse it any closer. "Could you and Eliza work on that? I'm afraid I have some more work I need to get done tonight."  
Peggy looked to Eliza, who nodded although her questioning gaze remained on Angelica. Rather than providing any answers, Angelica just shook her head, spun on her heel, and went upstairs to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else ever just type out all their tags and then realise that they would never read something with those tags. Because same.  
> Anyway so this happened. And I guess I'm writing something with multiple chapters. How terrifying  
> Anyway sorry this sucks I was watching Turn  
> Also look it's not a full out newsies au yet  
> Note like months later: I had to edit this and now the formating is messed up. Please ignore it. I swear it's better afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

Because his father was such a busy man, Alexander often found he had a terribly difficult time actually being able to talk to him. It wasn't really the fault of either parties; the time of George Washington just happened to be in high demand from all branches of the newspaper. If the sports column wasn't in a panic because they had accidentally published something where they misspelled an athlete's name, then one of the photographers had managed to drop his entire, extremely expensive camera into a fountain. It seemed that something was always going wrong. He hated to admit it, but Alexander was the slightest bit apprehensive about taking over the business and having to deal with all these seemingly incompetent people. 

But he truly did need to find the time to meet with his father. Bringing Angelica Schuyler on as a writer would be a risk, but Alexander felt that the inevitable pay off was enough to make up for it. However he still felt that it was best to get a second opinion, one of someone who had more experience in the field than he. The opinions of few were held to much regard by the teenager, but he had found through a number of misadventures that that if Washington was nothing if not valuable. 

It wasn't until the end of the week that Alexander was actually able to get in to sit down with his father. Even then, he had had to send a notice in advance that he wanted to reserve a slot for a meeting but he tried not to let that bother him too much as he stood outside of Washington's office waiting for his previous meeting to end. It wasn't a terribly long late and it's couldn't have been more than five or six minutes before Charles Lee came strolling out of the room, looking down his nose at Alexander like he was a particularly unruly child. 

Alexander, in a moment of impulse he later did regret, childishly rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it; Lee always managed to bother him to a ridiculous degree. He was just so...awful. Alexander wasn't the only one who hated the older man though; Ben Tallmadge on the second floor seemed to despise Lee and it made Alexander feel considerably better to know that Lee's awfulness didn't exist purely in his head. 

"Alexander, you can come in," Washington's voice sounded from within his office and after shooting one last glare in Lee's general direction, Alexander jumped up and practically skipped into the small room. 

George Washington posed a quite intimidating figure, to say the least. Over six feet of ex-soldier and raw power was enough to make even the boldest of men feel small and insignificant. Alexander was of course an exception to that. He was raised by the man and, though Washington seemed reluctant to admit it, also his favourite. (This was another thing Ben Tallmadge on the second floor had problems with but Alexander tended not to hold the opinions of others particularly high when it didn't directly benefit him.) In short, Alexander could for the most part get away with whatever he pleased. 

"What do you need, son?" Washington asked immediately, skipping over the usual you-know-you-could-have-just-asked-me-this-over-dinner comment he made every time. It seemed he had accepted that Alexander wanted to occasionally pretend he had to function under the same rules as everyone else, if anything just to keep up appearances. "I'm afraid that I can't do anything if you've managed to get on the bad side of one of my employees again."

It was through sheer willpower alone that Alexander kept himself from flushing at all at that comment. One time a fellow reporter threatens to literally duel you and nobody can let it go. "No, it's not that," Alexander anxiously glanced at the door to make sure Lee or anyone else who couldn't mind their own business wasn't still hanging around. "It's actually business related this time. Tell me, did you know Philip Schuyler before he passed?"

If Washington found the question to be unusual, he didn't give any indication. Alexander liked to think that it was because Washington had become accustomed to his son's eccentricity, but it was equally likely that it just wasn't as strange of a question as Alexander thought. 

"I knew the man, yes," Washington answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I recently became acquainted with his eldest daughter, Angelica and I was thinking...we could do with a more diverse voice on out staff," Alexander carefully gauged Washington's reaction. Washington just seemed amused though and he couldn't fathom what that could possibly mean. 

"I suppose this means you want to hire her?" Washington finally said, seemingly realising that Alexander wasn't going to continue without at least a little prompting.

"Yes, but that isn't all," Alexander began pacing back and forth "I want to do this the smart way. You've been in this business for longer than I have; you've seen how hard it can be for women reporters. Especially considering that she wants to do pieces that are more political than many typically do in our modern age. It would be so much more effective if we could have her write under an alias. I mean, we've made a great deal of progress since, say, the turn of the century, but still did you see what people were saying about Abby Adams when she wrote that story for the Post? They were awful; I'm surprised John didn't press to try to get her to retire entirely purely for her own safety. In fact, I-"

"Alexander," Washington raised his voice, effectively cutting off his nervous rambling. "Please sit." Alexander sat. "Thank you. Alexander, I am retiring in less than a month."

"I know, sir, that's why-" Alexander stopped talking at his father's harsh look.

"I am retiring in less than a month," Washington continued. "And this business will be yours. That, of course, means you will be in charge of making your own choices. Now, you have been around for the majority of the time I've run this paper and I imagine you have been paying attention. You know it's not always easy and that sometimes it's hard to see what the best decision is for the wellbeing of all of us," He smiled, and Alexander couldn't say for sure if it was supposed to be a reassuring smile or a thank-god-I'll-be-released-of-this-responsibility-soon smile. "However, I want you to have experience. And this seems like it would be a good time for you to start making your own choices."

"Wait, but sir," Alexander tried to force down his excitement at what Washington was saying in order to be objective. "You realise that this is risky, right? You'll continue to hold all legal responsibility since you'll technically have been the one to hire her. If we get caught, your reputation will be ruined."

Washington's face lost all traces of amusement as he bent forward slightly, grey eyes meeting blue and Alexander forced himself not to blink. Maybe he really was childish, but he didn't want Washington to think that this was something he couldn't handle. And when Washington spoke, his voice was nothing but serious. "Then don't get caught."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of writing anyone other than the Schuyler sisters and Maria terrifies me, but I don't think this turned out too badly?  
> Also sorry Ben showed up it just kind of happened and I lack self control.   
> Anyway!!! hope this wasn't as awful as the last chapter and thanks for reading it!!   
> Also if anyone has any interest in reading something for a bit of background I found this article to be interesting  
> http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/lesbians-20th-century/lesbian-feminism  
> Okay bye


	3. Chapter 3

Angelica didn't know when lying had become such a large part of her life.

For years, she and her sisters had confided everything in each other. Angelica knew all about Eliza's silly crush on the boy across the street from them when she was in the third grade and everything up to when Peggy was being bullied by one of her classmates a few months previous. It went both ways, of course. Eliza and Peggy were the first people she had come out to when she had briefly dated Dolley Payne when they were both sophomores. And the first people she had told about her writing. Lying to the two of them felt inherently wrong.

As much as Angelica hated the lying, she couldn't say she hated the cause of it.

At a quarter to midnight, she sat in the cushioned chair directly inside the front door, attempting to write a brief outline of the article she hoped to submit to Hamilton by weeks end. The lighting was dim and far from ideal, but as far as Peggy and Eliza were aware Angelica had been asleep for well over an hour and she would prefer the remained under that impression.

She had hardly written more than a sentence when there was a light knock on the door. Not before checking her surroundings to make sure neither of her sisters had heard anything, Angelica opened the door and quickly ushered in a young woman draped in a warm red coat. "You're sure James didn't see you, right?"

Maria Reynolds shook her head, pulling off her coat and hanging it on the stand to the other side of the door. "I checked; he has been passed out in our bed since eight. Are your sisters asleep?"

"There could be an earthquake and they wouldn't awaken," Angelica said, leaning forward slightly. "Can I..?" At Maria's nod she pressed a soft kiss to the other girl's lips. It only lasted a few seconds before Angelica pulled away but still...god she couldn't believe this was working out so perfectly. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't get here earlier," Maria had taken advantage of Angelica's height to rest her head on her shoulder, warm breath tickling her neck. "James wanted me to do his laundry for tomorrow am I wanted to get it done before hand."

"James should start doing his own laundry." She said it only for Maria's subsequent smile; they both knew better than to suggest going against the whims of James Reynolds. Maria had been forced to marry the awful man at seventeen and in the years since it had been made extremely clear that it was safest to do what he said, no matter how demeaning it was. 

Of course, it was James Reynolds that had led them to the situation they were in. Angelica and Maria had met at the restaurant where Maria worked. Angelica had been there to have lunch with a woman from a privately owned magazine. The whole thing went horribly wrong when the woman informed Angelica that while she would be permitted to write, there was a very specific view-point their magazine held as a whole so she would have to get the outlines for her articles from some higher up in the company. When Angelica politely mentioned that she would prefer a position that let her to create entirely original content, the woman suddenly became offended and stormed off, leaving Angelica with a baffling feeling vaguely comparable to being ditched by a date. 

When the sound of a cup being set down and the chair opposite of her being pulled out interrupted Angelica from the long trail of questions running through her mind, she was surprised (though she couldn't say unpleasantly) to see the very pretty waitress who had seated them looking at her in concern. 

It was Maria's lunch break and they ended up spending the entire half hour talking. And then when the restaurant manager came to say she had to return to work, Angelica quickly scribbled her number on to a napkin and gave it to Maria, saying to feel free to call her should she ever want to meet up again. 

They had been drifting around the topic of dating for months, always getting almost but never quite all the way there. surprisingly, it was Angelica finding out about James that got them to that point on and Maria occasionally joked that it was the only good thing the man had ever done for her. 

As for the lying, Angelica tried not to let that bother her. She knew they had to keep their relationship a secret purely for safety, both her's an Maria's. Thus why they met only at night and only at Angelica's house. 

"Did you talk to the man from the paper about your writing?" Maria asked, curling up against Angelica on the couch. "What was his name? Hamlet?"

"Hamilton," Angelica corrected. "And yes, he stopped by a few nights ago. I haven't heard back from him yet though. "

"You'll get the job," Maria said, sounding way more confident in Angelica's abilities than she was herself. "I know I'm not the most well-read person, but your articles always seem so beautifully written."

"I'm afraid even if my writing is to par, they may wish to avoid hiring me for the risk is quite great," Angelica admitted. "Mr. Washington would be doing me a great favour in providing a platform for my viewpoint regardless of said risk." 

"You're more than worth the risk," Maria slid her still-cold hand into Angelica's warmer one and both girls knew that she wasn't strictly referring to the job. "I feel like this is a creepy question since I've never been properly introduced to either of them, but how are your sisters?"

Angelica laughed. "It's not a creepy question. At this point I've told you so many stories about them that I imagine they must be starting to feel like sisters of your own."

"You know, I always wanted sisters when I was a child," Maria said, her voice taking on a dreamlike quality that immediately enraptured Angelica. "My mother had quite a few sisters and she was always so close to them. And, if I'm being honest, my half-brother was a bit of an ass so at that point anything could be an improvement."

"You know," Angelica teased. "Swearing is unladylike."

"As is writing under a false name and meeting with your romantic interest at odd hours of the night, but that's hardly stopped you."

"Point made and internalized." Angelica knew that the huge smile she was making likely looked beyond ridiculous, but she was far from caring. Maria seemed happy, which was something that had become increasingly rare. Understandable, of course, but Angelica still cherished all the happier memories they created in the few hours they could have together. 

They had unanimously agreed for Maria to leave around two o'clock, but most nights they got distracted and she ended up staying another half hour. This one was no different, and it was closer to two thirty when Angelica helped Maria into her coat. 

"I have to work late tomorrow," Maria said, pulling a pair of worm gloves out of her pocket. "But the next night I should be able to come over, if that's all right with you, of course."

"I'll be looking forwards to it all day," Angelica fetched the key to let Maria out. "You ready?" 

Maria nodded, pulling Angelica into one last hug. "Stay safe."

"You as well."

The door closed behind her and Angelica shivered, the freezing air finally catching up with her. She locked the door and then ran upstairs, more than ready to be recovered by her warm bed sheets. Of course, nothing could be that simple, could it? 

"What are you doing up, Angie?" Peggy asked, the crack in her door showing the young girl standing in her rumpled yellow nightgown. "Is anything wrong?" 

Angelica took a second to stop her heart from racing before giving her sister a warm smile, hopefully succeeding in coming across as reassuring. "I was just getting a drink. Go back to sleep."

Peggy rubbed her eyes, moving to close the door. "Goodnight, Angie."

"'Night, Peggy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I try to type 'Angie' my phone automatically corrects it to 'Andre' which is odd as I didn't really think I talked about him that much.   
> Anyway, yes, I know Maria had sisters canonically (can I refer to history as cannon? Who cares) but I don't feel like writing that. Creative liberties, and all that.   
> Thanks for reading and putting up with my horribly inconsistent writing style!


	4. Chapter 4

Sometimes, Eliza found the rest of the world to be exhausting. It was loud, it was crowded, and it seemed that no matter where she went she couldn't escape the curious eyes constantly trying to look over her shoulder to see what she was drawing. 

(It wasn't that Eliza didn't like it when people showed interest in her art, she'd just much prefer if they would ask so she could show them a completed piece she was proud of.)

One of her favourite places to work was just off the path that skateboarders frequented. There was this tree a few meters back, with sturdy, swooping branches that she could sit under or, on rare occasion, climb up on. It was far enough back that while nobody would bother her, Eliza could still see the skaters on the path. She liked watching them if she needed inspiration; their antics were more than enough to give her some excellent ideas. 

That day in particular, she was working on a picture for a game of sorts she sometimes played with her neighbour, John Andre. It was a fairly simple game; they decided on a specific topic, each drew it, and then traded pieces. They had been playing it since middle school and more than anything, Eliza could contribute that to how much her art had improved over the years. Having somebody to compare technique with was nothing if not helpful. 

The concept that day was 'crepitate', chosen by Eliza flipping to a random page of the dictionary and pointing to the first word she saw, and if she was being entirely honest, Eliza's drawing was kind of lacking in the creativity department. A fire-place, flames spilling out onto the ground in front of it. A bit hitting the nail on the head for her, but she had hardly slept the night before and was too exhausted to come up with anything better.

Eliza had just reached into her pocket for an orange pencil when she heard the harsh crunch of footsteps on fallen leaves. Immediately she froze, screwing her eyes shut in an effort to calm down. "Please don't be the cops please don't be the cops," She whispered to herself, before forcing her lips into a smile and turning around. "Oh...it's you."

"It's me," Alexander said in agreement. "And you, in a tree. May I ask why?"

"Art," Eliza answered simply. She shifted her arm to cover her drawing, entirely aware of how ridiculous she was being. How was she ever to be able to have her work in a newspaper if she could hardly stand to let a single person asides from John see it? Especially considering this was Alexander, somebody whose thoughts on her she couldn't have possibly cared less about. The newspaper was going to be seen by everyone. Her neighbors, her former peers at school, her friends, random people she ran into on street, her family...

"Hey, are you alright?" Eliza forced herself out of the speeding train of her thoughts and was jumped back slightly when she realised how close Alexander had gotten. Had she really been so deep in her head? Alexander's eyes looked concerned though (and she refused to think about how hurt he seemed when she jumped back) so she did what Peggy jokingly called 'the Eliza thing' and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry; I'm perfectly alright," She slid off from her branch and smooved off her skirt as soon as her boots hit the ground. There was still the fraying sense of shakiness, but she felt decently certain that she looked put together enough on the outside. "I am curious as to what you're doing here though."

"I was actually on my way to see a few good friends of mine," Alexander explained. "We were going to meet up at that coffee shop a few streets over," He hesitates for a second. "Would you like to come? I'm sure neither of them would mind. Besides, I've been needing to speak to you about a few things in regards to hiring you and your sister.

"John and Laf both know, of course," Alexander continued, already anticipating what Eliza's next question was going to be. "I hope you don't mind; they're my closest friends and I trust them entirely."

Eliza shrugged. "If you think you can trust them, I suppose there isn't any harm in me going with you. Shouldn't Angelica be present as well, though?"

Alexander waved that off. "I've already spoken briefly with Angelica and we're going to meet together later this week. You can come along with us, entirely guilt free."

Eliza chewed on her lip before nodding. "Guilt free."

Alexander broke into a smile and went to grab her arm before pulling back and just waving instead. "C'mon, if we're quick we can get there before Laf and not have to sit in the tall people chairs."

Eliza had no idea who Laf was, what Alexander was referring to when he said 'tall people chairs', and she was hardly sure she knew where they were going, but she was soon going to be forcefully removed from her comfort zone and this seemed like as good time as any to get started on that. So she herself took Alexander's arm and together they set off towards the coffee shop. 

~~~

Laf, as Eliza discovered, was the shortened name of a very tall, very excitable, very red-haired man. Upon Alexander's introduction, he hoped down from his chair (it had now become quite clear to Eliza what Alexander had meant about the chairs only being for tall people) and took her hand in his, saying very quickly in a heavy French accent how nice it was to be making her acquaintance. Needless to say, Eliza instantly took a liking to him and within a few minutes they were all sitting around the table with a warm drink. 

"John hasn't gotten here yet?" Alexander asked Lafayette, folding one of the five napkins he had taken into a crane and precariously balancing it on the window sill. 

To this, the other boy shook his head. "I talked to him earlier; he said Franklin is having him work late on printing. He'll try to make it, but also said just to fill him in later.

"Speaking of which," Lafayette glanced between Alexander and Eliza. "What exactly is so confidential that you couldn't say it in a letter?"

At that, Alexander practically glowed and Eliza was most certain he had been waiting for a similar question. "What exactly is so confidential," He repeated, leaning in closer. "That, my friends, would be revolution."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI  
> So I've been working on this for the last like week and a half and I'm DYING.  
> On that note, writing this is so wild because like...some people are the Hamilton versions then others Turn or like 1776 or IMA or actual history. Wild.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Oh, has anyone ever seen Franklin's printing press? It's so pretty.


	5. Chapter 5

Alexander had been told on a number of occasions by a number of people that he had something of a flair for the dramatic. He, of course, thought that he was a perfectly healthy level of dramatic and that anyone who spoke on the contrary was frankly being absurd. 

It was mostly Jefferson's people, anyway. Or entirely Jefferson's people? Had anyone else ever actually called him overly dramatic? Maybe Abigail Adams? Unimportant. The point was they were incorrect. 

John had said he was excitable, which was probably implying around the same thing but the change in wording made it sound considerably less condescending. Also it was John Laurens, and John Laurens could get away with almost anything in regards to Alexander Hamilton. 

Calling what they were doing a revolution didn't seem too overly stated, in Alexander's entirely correct opinion. Even if the look Eliza was giving him strongly implied that she believed otherwise. 

"Do you not think you're being the slightest bit overly dramatic?" 

Alexander winced at the use of the word. There it was again. "No, if I'm being fully honest with you, I think that's exactly what we're doing. Angelica's thoughts being broadcasted on such a wide platform will revolutionise how people look at social issues," He looked at Lafayette. "You agree with me, right Laf?"

Lafayette looked very uncomfortable with being brought into this. "I hate to say it, Alexander, but that's a fairly idealistic viewpoint."

Alexander allowed himself to appear annoyed for a few seconds before resuming his argument. "The problem is that the two of you are viewing revolution in the terms of a war. With guns. And fighting on a battle field with uniforms and ranks. This isn't the American Revolution or even the damn French Revolution," He paused to take in their reactions to that. Lafayette had his hand covering the majority of his mouth but Alexander could see enough in the rest of his face that he was smiling. While Eliza just seemed... Eliza seemed impressed and Alexander found that he liked that. "Think of this war we're in now, fought not by soldiers but by politicians. That's what I want."

John Laurens had always been special. From the first day of their senior year in AP Chemistry when he sat down, looked directly at Alexander and asked If he knew how many cups of coffee one could consume before overdosing on caffeine to when he walked through the door, wind-blown hair almost obscuring his freckled face and flashing Alexander the biggest smile. He was the only person Alexander could put up at literally any time and the only person who could make assumptions about his personality and not be so incorrect he wanted to scream. And, they generally agreed which was nice considering Alexander was nothing if not opinionated. 

"That was quite the speech, Alex."

"Hi, John," John was tall enough that he easily could meet Alexander's eyes even with the chair and Alexander took advantage of that to look directly into them. "Would you care to join us?" 

"I was originally intending to get a coffee," John said, glancing at Eliza before back to the man in front of him. "But I wasn't aware that we would have a fourth person joining us here."

Eliza, ever polite, stuck out her hand. "I'm Eliza Schuyler. I take it you're the John we've been awaiting?" 

John took her smaller hand is his. "Yes, that would be me. As it happens, the time commitments of a printer are of little concern to companies in this age, so I'm afraid this is as early as I could escape Washington's clutches."

That was met with an eye roll from Alexander. "You weren't even with my dad. You were with Franklin. He is considerably more eccentric."

"I know, he's amazing," John agreed. "Anyway, I really do need that coffee. Would any of you like something?"

Eliza and Lafayette both declined, but Alexander hopped off his chair. "Let me come with you; I'll go over what you missed."

Alexander followed John to the line, standing maybe a bit closer than what was strictly considered socially acceptable. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lafayette lean in closer to Eliza and her pulling away, giggling. Good. He preferred it when all the people he got along with were fond of one another. 

"Is she...?" John was being cautious; it wasn't loud enough to fully cover their words. However, Alexander understood what he meant. 

"Her sister," He explained. "I ran into her in the park and thought to ask her along."

"As one does," John agreed dryly. They arrived at the front of the line and as John ordered his drink, Alexander occupied himself by looking around at the other people. He smiled, seeing a tall, dark-haired woman sitting alone at a table, Washington's (almost his) newspaper propped open in front of her. This was who their writing was going to reach. It was an exhilarating thought. 

"You look happier than usual," John observed. He handed Alexander a pastry that apparently had been purchased while he wasn't paying attention. "You're taking over by week's end, correct?"

Alexander nodded. "Washington formally retires on Friday and then Monday's paper will be the first under my name."

"Monday is a great day for a revolution."

By that point, they were almost to the table and evidently close enough for Lafayette and Eliza to hear. "You can call it a revolution as much as you want, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a highly optimistic view-point."

"You're the optimistic one," John pointed out. "I don't believe   
Alexander and I have ever been optimistic a day in our respective lives."

"I think," Eliza had to raise her voice for no more than a second before all three sets of eyes were on her. "I think, should it go as you hope, revolution is a good enough term to use. It's catchy, anyway."

"Schuyler's word is law," John put his arm around Eliza's shoulder and if she was startled by it like Alexander thought she would be, she didn't show it. 

"You are impossible." Lafayette looked at his watch, wincing slightly. "I'm afraid it's considerably later than I hoped to stay out though, so I suppose you win."

"I always win." Alexander retorted. "Anyway, you're working tomorrow, correct?"

"Unless I hear otherwise."

"Good, I'll be sure to speak to you then."

Not long after Lafayette had left, Eliza also decided that it was well last how long she had intended to stay out. After a quick goodbye to both John and Alexander, she too was gone. 

"So, what do you think?" Alexander asked, wanting John's opinions on his words just as much as he wanted those on brining Eliza into their group. 

John shrugged. "I like Eliza well enough. And I also like the idea of revolution."

Alexander had to laugh a little at that. "I suppose that I'm lucky that you are the way you are or I imagine you wouldn't put up with me."

"Damn right you are." John tossed his now-empty cup into a trash can. "Do you want me to walk you home?

"Don't take it that way," John said before Alexander could cut him off by saying he didn't need protection. "I need to stop and pick up some stiff and your house is on the way."

That was different. "Sure." 

John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, both with entirely different ideas of what was going to happen after this, set off together, leaving the coffee shop to once agin be nothing more than exactly that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi does anyone else hate writing because I hate writing.   
> Anyway so I haven't done anything except school work for like two weeks and i had to get this out purely for my own sanity so sorry if it sucks.   
> And I changed the title because I really did hate the old one and that line is my favourite in the whole thing so yeah.   
> Thanks for reading!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Thomas Jefferson had something of a reputation. Infamous for his lack of censor and refusal to wear proper shoes to meetings, Angelica had heard more than a few complaints about the owner of New York's other major newspaper. He was a buissines man of exceptional intelligence with a powerhouse crew, sure, but he also was...well, he made it very obvious if he thought you weren't worth his time. 

She met with him for the first time in person over the previous December. They had been conversing by letter for about a month previous (ever since she had contacted him about a potential job) and when he asked if she would be willing to meet with himself and a colleague, Angelica found herself to be quite excited. 

(This excitement was expressed with Maria at midnight a day later, the two of them spending the better part of an hour dancing around the Schuyler's living room. Angelica felt like a giddy teenager and it was wonderful.)

They met at Jefferson's office building because yes, the man was rich enough to posses his own office building. It seemed strange to refer to a building as formidable, but that's what it was. The clouds were low that day and it made it seem to go one and on forever, the already turned on streetlights causing the windows to gleam blindingly. The whole thing seemed horribly unattainable and of it wasn't for the fact that she was on a busy street Angelica would have broken into another victory dance purely because she was THERE. 

She must have been standing there and staring at the building-front for longer than she thought. It wasn't until somebody cleared their throat behind her that she was forced to turn around. 

The very small man standing behind her seemed vaguely familiar and it didn't take long for Angelica to place him. James Madison. Dolley's boyfriend and, if she wasn't mistaken, one of Jefferson's employees. 

"Sorry," Angelica offered him a smile, which was not returned. "Would you..?" She held the door open and after staring at her for a second, James went through it. 

Angelica sighed quietly, following him. 

~~~

Thomas Jefferson lived up to the hype. Peggy, who had arguably been as excited about this as Angelica, would be pleased to know that. 

His office was arguably one of the fanciest places Angelica had seen in her life. The walls were covered with framed paintings and what little actual wall shined through was painted a dark burgundy, going nicely with all the wooden furniture. And, of course, the elegantly dressed man who worked there.

"Hello, hello, hello," Jefferson said, shaking her hand. "Miss Schuyler, I take it? Please, sit down; my associate should be here any minute."

Angelica sat down in one of the large cushioned chairs Jefferson had in front of his desk. "Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me today."

"I've been looking for some new voices," Jefferson said flippantly. "And you certainly seem like a new voice. I've read some of your articles and you seem...interesting."

"Thanks." Angelica muttered. Interesting. Was that intended to be a compliment or an insult? 

They lapsed into an awkward silence, which she took advantage of to study the paintings on a the wall. The one hanging directly over Jefferson's desk was what she believed to be a Monet. She squinted. Was that real? 

Angelica was halfway to asking him when the door opened and Jefferson's associate rushed in. "Sorry, Burr required extra assistance this morning."

Jefferson imidiatly sat with his back straight and an easy smirk. "James, this is Angelica Schuyler. Read her essay."

Angelica personally thought that Jefferson's delivery of that seemed a bit rude, but Madison didn't seem to think anything of it. He simply took the papers Jefferson gave to him and began to read them over. 

Madison, Angelica quickly realised, was a very fast reader and it couldn't have been more than a minute before he was handing the papers back to Jefferson with a shrug. "She's okay." 

"I thought so," Jefferson agreed, pulling a black string off of his coat sleeve. "Speak to me in private, please?" He waited for a few seconds and when nobody moved, made a waving gesture at Angelica. "/Go/."

"Sorry," she left, closed the door behind her and suppressing the growing urge to press her ear to the keyhole and listen. She had a feeling that neither Jefferson or Madison would take kindly to opening the door and finding her there and this really was towards the end of possible companies she could work for. It would be silly to lose that chance over something so immature. 

Still... The temptation was quite strong and she was seconds away from doing it when Madison stepped into the hallway. 

"He says he's sorry, but you weren't quite interesting enough."

Angelica bit her lip, trying to ignore the wave disappointment that washed over her at hearing those words. "Oh. Okay. Sorry for wasting your time."

"If it makes you feel better, he's already turned down four other people this week for not being interesting enough."

"It really doesn't."

Madison didn't seem to care either way. "Make sure Burr sees you leave. Have a nice day."

~~~

So yes, meeting with Thomas Jefferson was not a memory Angelica looked on with much fondness. She had been rejected plenty of times but never because she 'wasn't interesting enough' and as much as she hated to admit it, it had kind of hurt. Which made running into both Jefferson and Madison while simply going on a walk all that much more unpleasant. 

"Miss Schuyler," Jefferson said, tipping the hat he had placed precariously balanced on his hair in her general direction. "What a suprise, running into you."

"Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison," she nodded to each man, trying to subtly look past them to the spot further down, where she was supposed to be meeting Maria. (They never normally would have met during the day but James was off visiting an ailing family member and both had agreed that it was fairly innocent for two young women to go on a walk together.) "You both look well."

As if to directly go against what she said, Madison imidiatly broke into a coughing fit, coughing into a handkerchief he seemed to have produced out of thin air. 

"Are you still looking for work?" Jefferson asked, raising his voice and bringing Angelica to an interesting crossroad. Did she keep her pride intact and tell him that yes, she did have a job, or did she say she was still looking for work and keep the secret safe? 

"I'm still looking," Angelica said, hoping her gritted teeth came off as nothing more than annoyance with the question. "There isn't much of a short on journalists as of late."

"Very true," Jefferson's agreed, looking at Madison with a small hint of concern. "James, are you alright"

"Quite alright; just dying," James rasped. He waved his hand once and somehow the handkerchief once again vanished from view. "Can we go?"

"Of course," Jefferson nodded to Angelica. "I'm sure we'll be meeting again soon."

The two men started off down the side walk again, but not before Madison could give Angelica one last scathing look. She shuddered. For such a small, unintimidating man, he sure was capable of making one fear for their secrets.

When Angelica finally got to her intended destination, Maria had already left. It wasn't particularly surprising -they'd had an agreement that if either of them took too long to show up they'd just meet that night as usual- but disappointing nonetheless. Leave it to Jefferson and Co. to ruin her plans. 

~~~

"I swear he intentionally started coughing just to spite me," Angelica complained, dramatically flopping on to the couch. "The timing was too perfect for it to have been anyyhing less than intentional."

Maria laughed, sitting down considerably less dramatically and floppilly. "I'm assuming you asked him then, if it was intentional?"

Angelica shook her head. "God, no. I think I showed decent restraint. Wouldn't want to give him a reason to hate me that wasn't completely unfound."

"Of course," Maria said with a sharp nod. "You'd never give anyone a legitamete reason to dislike you. Just ask Mr. Burr, who, if the legends are true, had never looked more as ashamed than he did after talking to you."

At that, both completely dissolved into laughter, so much that they failed to hear the footsteps gradually be making their way down the stairs until it was too late. 

"Angelica? What is going on?"

Angelica swore, ignoring the reproachful voice of her mother echoing through her head. 

For Eliza stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking at Maria with curious dark eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever write like 700 words then realise that what you're writing has nothing to do with your actual story because that was me for like half of this.  
> Also I watched les mis and it was exhausting. Why are two hour movies even a thing.  
> Anyway I don't know what I'm talking about so bye
> 
> OH also thank you to everybody who has ever read/kudosed/ commented on anything I've written because I basically just cry every time somebody does. I mean I cry over everything but this time it's because I'm happy. Okay bye for real now.


	7. Chapter 7

She had just hardly began to drift off to sleep when the noises began. They were soft, so soft that Eliza had first thought she was imagining them. 

She lay awake, staring at the faintly lit pattern on the ceiling above her bed for a few seconds before deciding that no, she wasn't imagining things. Somebody was downstairs in their home.

Eliza didn't think herself to be a particularly paranoid person. She wasn't one to fear being alone or the dark and she sure as hell wasn't on to fear many other people. But, she supposed, that was more lacking fear than lacking paranoia. Or perhaps they were the same thing? Regardless, the fact was that the one thing that could really scare her was the idea of something happening to either of her sisters, especially if it was something she had the potential to stop. 

She slid her legs from under her sheets and grasped around at her floor before finally finding her slippers. There was a flashlight somewhere under her bed, but the moon provided more than enough light to navigate the stairs. Eliza thought so, at least. Mostly she just wasn't sure where the flashlight was. 

Eliza slowly opened her bedroom door, wincing at the soft creaking noise it made. She walked across the hallway to Angelica's door and knocked quietly. 

"Angie?"

No answer, which was probably for the better. Angelica had seemed so exhausted recently and Eliza was glad she was sleeping, even if that meant she had to deal with this on her own. 

The light was on in the living room and that seemed to be where the noises were coming from. It was so strange, laughter and whispering and nothing that Eliza would expect to hear from apparent robbers. 

She crept down the stairs and was almost to the bottom when she recognised one of the voices. Peering around the corner she saw that she was correct, seeing her sister and a girl she vaguely recognised from the restaurant down the street. 

"Angelica? What's going on?"

"Shit," Angelica jumped. "Eliza, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the very same question," Eliza said, crossing her arms and looking at the other girl out of the corner of her eye. "You can't keep secrets from us, Angelica."

"I can go if you need me to..." The other girl said hesitantly and Eliza was struck by how her voice shook. She dropped her arms back to her side and tried to look less threatening. Obviously not a robber. 

"Don't," Angelica rested her hand in the girl's arm. "Don't go. Eliza, I think we need to talk."

~~~

They all sat around the table. There were only three tables; there were only three people who lived there and guests were nothing if not a rarity. But since as far as they were all aware Peggy was still deeply asleep, it worked out. 

"Eliza, this is Maria," Angelica said and Eliza couldn't help but notice the beaming smile that seemed to take over her sister's entire face. "My girlfriend."

The girl -Maria- gave Eliza a small wave and Eliza smiled back. "Nice to meet you. Sorry for the...undesirable circumstances."

Eliza shrugged. "I thought somebody was breaking in, so this is arguably an improvement."

"I'm so so sorry," Angelica started anxiously, eyes wide and urgent. "I hated lying to you and Peggy but we thought the less people who knew the less likely it would be that somebody we didn't want to find out found out."

"No, I understand," Eliza said. She ran her pointer finger over the rim of the table. "Although, if you don't mind telling me, why are you meeting so late in our living room?"

Angelica gave Maria an unreadable look and Maria held her eye for a few seconds before answering Eliza. "I can't let people know I'm with your sister. I don't want her to get hurt."

Angelica took her hand. "And I don't want Maria to get hurt on my behalf." She looked at Eliza and Eliza didn't think she'd seen her so serious since their parents died "Don't tell anyone. You know how important it is that we keep my job a secret? Take that and square it. You won't have half of how important it is that nobody knows about us."

Eliza nodded solemnly. "I understand. Nobody else will know."

Eliza had to admit that she kind of appretiated the irony in what came hardly a second after she promised nobody else would know. A small voice coming from the stairs asking what was happening.

Angelica mimed slamming her head into the table.

~~~

Telling Peggy was surprisingly simple. She seemed to absolutly adore Maria, basically hanging off of her arm for the entire rest of the night. And Eliza had to admit, she quite liked her as well. She was sweet, funny, and arguably one of the toughest people Eliza had ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was hardly surprised Angelica liked her so much. 

Because God, Angelica seemed to like her. She shinned brighter and stronger than Eliza had seen her in years. And it was wonderful.

~~~ 

Maria had left late and all three sisters had fallen asleep on the sofa. Eliza awoke to the sun streaming through the curtains and Peggy curled up against her side. It wasn't until the doorbell rang again that she realised what had forced her awake. 

She carefully extracted herself from Peggy's grip, and hopped off the couch and over to the door. It hardly occured to her that she was wearing pajamas and that her hair was likely sticking up in all kind of gravity defying angles until she had opened the door and saw none other than John Laurens and Lafayette. 

"Did we wake you?" Lafayette asked, seemingly way more regretful than John. "I'm terribly sorry."

"What gave it away?" Eliza asked, flipping a tangle of hair out of her face. "And it's fine, I'm normally up way earlier than this anyway. What's going on?"

John and Lafayette grinned almost identically, a feat pretty impressive for two people who looked nothing alike. "Alex is having a party. He wants you to come."

"It technically isn't Alexander's party," Lafayette added. "It's for Mr. Washington. His retirement. And, of course, in honor of Alexander taking over the newspaper."

Eliza looked over to where her sisters were still asleep and then back at the two boys in front of her. "Give me ten minutes to get dressed. I'll go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ughhhh it took forever to update this. Chemistry has basically taken over my life. I'm hoping to write a few more chapters over break but my (surprise surprise) chem teacher decided to assign 30 pages due when we get back.   
> For now, thank you so much for reading!!


	8. Chapter 8

There was a spider on the ceiling of Alexander Hamilton's bedroom.

At least, he thought it was a spider. It could have been a shadow. Or a piece of dust. Maybe he did need glasses. A new job and a new look. Sounded horrifying.

Alexander was laying on the ground, carpet pricking the back of his neck to the point that he was having to repeatedly remind himself that nothing was moving there. God, this spider thing was getting to his head.

Alexander flung his hand to his left and reached around until he finally felt the cool spine of the book he had thrown there the night before. Book flinging was a terrible habit, one that he had repeatedly tried to curb and one that was likely the reason behind Lafayette's refusal to lend him anything, no matter how much he begged. Alexander would just stop flinging them, but another terrible habit of his was staying up reading until he was absolutely exhausted. His bad habits complimented each other quite nicely and he wasn't quite ready to drop both.

The book he found was an art book. It was very far from what would normally have been his selection (Alexander was a history person at heart), but that was because it was not his book. It was Eliza's.

He, Eliza, and Angelica had all met a few days prior to make sure everything was in order for publication that week. Angelica had wrote a lovely article and Eliza had drawn lovely illustrations and Alexander could probably have ranked the whole meeting within the top five things that had happened to him in his whole life. Being part of potential change was an amazing, heart racing feeling. And he loved it.

Angelica had had to leave right after the meeting was over to go pick up Peggy from school, but Eliza had stayed longer, still talking about art. Alexander hardly understood half of what she was talking about, but watching her speak was kind of fascinating. She normally seemed much more reserved but just listening to her Alexander could tell that /this/ was what she was passionate about.

Right after the meeting, Alexander had raced over to the bookstore and found the very first book he found in the art section. He was completely starting from scratch, but he figured the book with "beginner" in the title couldn't have been too difficult to comprehend. For the record, he was incorrect and already had a half page of questions he needed to ask Eliza the next time he saw her.

He opened the book, ignoring his bookmark to simply flip to a page about a third of the way through. There was a full spread of some painting Alexander remembered seeing painted on a mural at his old high school. The Scream. He had always liked it, but the colours were much more vibrant in the book. 

He pushed himself off of the ground to find his list of questions for Eliza and, pulling the cap off his pen with his teeth, wrote across the bottom 'ASK ABOUT THE SCREAM'. As he was writing, there was a loud knock at the door which caused him to jump and leave a line of ink running off his paper. 

"Come in," Alexander said, gritting his teeth and shoving both the book and the list under the coat draped across his desk chair.

Martha Washington, a petite woman was incredibly tidy hair and warm dark eyes, opened his door with a smile. "Your friends are here, dear. The party isn't supposed to start for another twenty minutes, but I thought you might like to come down and see them."

"Thanks, mom." Alexander waited for her to leave before pulling the book out again. Immediately, he realised how ridiculous he was being. Eliza was his friend. It was perfectly normal for him to become more curious about her interests. How else were they ever to find something to talk about? 

Although the hesitation was more reasonable considering how Lafayette had been acting as of late. After one of their previous meetings at the coffee shop, he had pulled Alexander back after everyone else left and proceeded to ask a collection of very obviously weighted questions about his and John's relationship. Then asking if Alexander was being careful with Eliza. Alexander may have snapped a few things he wasn't necessarily proud of, but Lafayette really had no business getting into his and besides, he and Eliza were JUST FRIENDS. Nothing more. 

Not that Alexander felt the need to get that defensive about it. Just...it was annoying. Really annoying.

Alexander could feel himself getting increasingly angry and took a few deep breathes. Getting mad at Lafayette was pointless. And he was downstairs, and Alexander would prefer not to have been responsible for ruining his father's retirement with some stupid argument over something Lafayette had imagined. 

****

Lafayette, John, and Eliza were all downstairs, evidently already been wrapped up in Martha's warm hospitality, if Lafayette's deep blush, Eliza's beaming smile, and John's look of complete contentment were anything to go off of. Alexander felt his own smile starting to break through. He supposed it was something of a blessing that his family and his friends got along. He had been a little scared when he introduced Lafayette (if anything it was the other boy's excited anxiety rubbing off on him) but George and Martha couldn't have possibly been more fond of him. Same for John. And who could dislike Eliza?

"Hey, Alex," John immediately noticed Alexander creeping down the stairs and broke off from the group to press a warm kiss to his cheek. "Finally pull yourself enough out of your head to grace us mere mortals with your presence?"

"Don't be a dick," Alexander muttered, grinning widely. "Lafayette clearly is not a mortal."

John laughed, propping an elbow up on Lafayette's shoulder, an interesting feat considering the height difference between the two. "Of course, my mistake."

Alexander turned to Eliza. "Sorry I couldn't be there to pick you up. Party prep, and the sort. Will your sister be coming along soon?"

Eliza nodded. "Angelica said she will come over in a little bit. Could...would it be alright if Peggy came along as well?"

"'Course," He said instantly. "I love Peggy," And turning to Martha, "You will too mom, she's adorable."

"You children will have to introduce me," Martha said, lightly patting Alexander's shoulder. "If you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have to get back to helping George. Nice to see you again John, Lafayette. And lovely to meet you, Eliza."

"Same to you, Mrs Washington." Eliza said. Once Martha was gone, she smiled at Alex. "Your mom is amazing. Can I borrow her? Forever?"

Alexander shook his head. "Sorry, Betsey. She's mine, no take backs."

"I tried too when I first met her. And Laf basically wanted to marry Mr. Washington." John told Eliza. "Alex will never give either of them up."

"I didn't want to marry him!" Lafayette said indignantly from where he was perched on the edge of the sofa, reading what Alexander recognized to be a list of things that still needed to be done before the party. "We need to set out the food. And everybody else should be arriving in half an hour. Alex, John, if the same thing happens that happened last time please be aware that I am not above telling Mr. Washington everything."

"You wouldn't dare," Alexander said as John buried his face in his shoulder, shaking with laughter. "I have just as much blackmail material about you and Adrienne."

Lafayette flushed as Eliza looked between the three, looking completely lost but amused nonetheless. “Am I missing something?”

John reached over and patted her shoulder. “Trust me, you’d rather not know. Alex and I will take the food from the kitchen. Laf, can you show Eliza where the nice plates are?”

At Lafayette’s nod, the two groups split off to help the Washingtons get ready for the party.

~~~

The house filled up fast. Which made sense; it wasn’t a terribly large house and most of the staff that normally occupied a huge-as-hell skyscraper were crammed into it, plus three Schuyler sisters. After greeting friends, colleagues, and people he wasn’t positive hadn’t just snuck in for the food, Alexander found that it wasn’t terribly difficult for him and John to slip away unnoticed. Or mostly unnoticed. He wasn’t sure if he had imagined that remarkably mischievous look the younger Schuyler girl gave him from where she sat rapidly discussing something about French architecture with Lafayette as he and John raced up the stairs. Regardless, Alexander was mostly sure she wouldn’t give them away. 

“I see you’ve cleaned up,” John observed upon stepping into Alexander’s bedroom and seeing the absence of the usual mess that greeted whomever entered. “It’s...different.”

Alexander flopped down on his bed and shrugged, a kind of remarkable feat that he would deny to the ends of the Earth having spent hours trying to perfect. “You know, we’re having people over so every spot of the house needs to look picturesque, least somebody decide that they need to hold their own meeting of the congressional congress in my bedroom.”

John rolled his eyes, reaching behind a more-or-less concealed pile of blankets next to Alexander’s book shelf. “Please, your parents are some of the most relaxed people I know. My father would have my head if I kept my room even this untidy.”

John was still half-smiling, but Alexander lapsed into silence anyway. It always made him a little bit uncomfortable whenever John brought up his father. Henry Laurens was far from a nice man and Alexander knew that John was away from him now, but still sometimes he found himself fearing that he would come back and somehow take John away again. Irrational, he knew, but what fears weren’t?

“Are you okay?” A voice asked from right next to his ear and Alexander jumped, realising that while he had been thinking John had moved from the floor to next to him, holding a bottle in his hand. “I found the wine.” 

“I can’t believe I let you leave your alcohol in my room.” He took the bottle anyway. “And without cups. Do you want to get all my germs in your mouth?” 

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” John said with a laugh as Alexander took a long sip and grimaced. “I think this is arguably more sanitary than making out in the pantry again.”

“God, don’t bring that up,” Alexander passed the bottle back. “Ben wouldn’t make eye contact with me for a week and then he told Woodhull and the whole office ended up finding out.”

“Remind me never to tell Woodhull anything I don’t want to get out.” John set the bottle on Alexander’s nightstand and leaned against his shoulder. “Are you scared?”

Alexander found himself leaning into John’s familiar frame and found he didn’t particularly care to stop himself. “Me? Laughable. I’ve never been scared of anything in my life.” At John’s disbelieving stare, he wavered. “Maybe a little. It’s a lot of pressure.”

“And who was it who told me the night before the biggest project of our senior year was due that there was no issue with ‘not being more than half-way through the first page’ because he -and this is a direct quote, by the way- ‘worked well under pressure’?”

Alexander shook his head. “Bad example. I pulled an all-nighter and still had to turn it in a day late.”

“And I started a week before it was due and turned it in two days late.” John immediately countered. “You’re going to be wonderful. And besides, you’ve always got people behind you. Laf, Adrienne, Eliza, your parents. You’re not alone, Alex.”

Alexander moved closer, stretching up to press a kiss on John’s lips. “Have I told you recently that I adore you?”

“Only a few times a week.” John said before going in for a kiss himself. “Have I told you recently that I think you’re brilliant?”

“No, but I think it’s really cute that you think that.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

“You know you like it.”

“Can we stop trying to converse while also trying to make out? It’s really killing the mood.”

“Sorry, although I’ve really been thinking that maybe we should try to-”

“Alex.”

“Sorry.”

~~~

It was late when everyone finally started to leave. Alexander and John had eventually finished their bottle of wine and decided that it would have gotten suspicious if they vanished for the whole night, thus deciding to go downstairs. It seemed that things had gotten considerably less formal while they were gone. Benny Goodman was blasting from the speakers and in the corner Alexander could see Eliza and Peggy dancing. He leaned over to John, whispered that he would be back in a few minutes, and broke off over to their corner. 

“Having fun?” He asked Eliza as the song ended and she turned and gave him a bright smile.

“Of course.” She said, keeping one hand on Peggy’s shoulder and using the other to fix her hair that had mostly fallen from it’s tidy ponytail since Alexander had last seen her. “Everyone here is so nice. Your father’s friend -Mr. Trumbull, I believe- was indulging me in the most lovely conversation about watercolours, of all things, before he had to leave.”

“Trumbull’s great,” Alexander agreed. “And Peggy? What about you?”

Peggy nodded, and upon Eliza’s encouraging nod, replied. “I like your friend, Lafayette.”

“Yeah, Laf is the greatest, isn’t he?” Alex stretched up to peer over the crowd. “However, I have no idea where he has gone off to and I really do need to get back to John. Eliza, if I don’t get to see her, could you wish Angelica well for me?”

“‘Course,” Eliza said. “Bye Alex.”

And Peggy waved, and Alexander slipped off into the crowd to find what had become of his boyfriend.

~~~

By midnight, almost everyone had gone. The Schuyler’s had left around ten, saying that Peggy had school tomorrow and needed to get to bed. At 10:45, Abe Woodhull was forcefully dragged from the party, mostly wasted, by the grumpy looking bartender Alexander sometimes saw him hanging around. Five minutes later, Charles Lee followed and really by 11:30 the vast majority had left. It was soon only John, Lafayette, and the Polish guy who worked in advertising that no matter how hard he tried, Alexander could never remember his name. 

“I’ve really got to be getting back,” John eventually said, pulling on his coat. “Franklin doesn’t seem to particularly care that somebody new is going to be in charge, he still wants me in there at six tomorrow.”

“Franklin has no concept of reasonable scheduling.” Alexander said, detangling himself from the blanket he had been curled around on the couch. “Never has, never will.”

“Isn’t he nearing seventy by now?” John asked on their way to the front door. “One would think he would be slowing down by now.” He temporarily broke away to hug Martha and shake George’s hand. 

“He’ll never slow down.” Alexander said. “Ever. It’s quite impressive.”

“May we all be as endlessly alive as the great Benjamin Franklin,” John said duly. “Alex?”

“Hm?”

“You know I love you, right?”

“Aww,” Alexander took a step closer to John. “That’s cute.”

“Alex.”

He nodded. “Of course. You know I love you too, right?”

John nodded. “I’m glad we met.”

“This is getting ridiculously sappy,” Alexander opened the door. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

And Alexander was mostly sure he imagined the sad look that quickly crossed John’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever to write.  
> Hopefully now since school is over, things will get done faster.  
> I do have quite a bit planned though. A short Turn thing, a short Great Comet thing, and a short Raven Cycle thing, plus updating the Heathers one. And I'm writing a musical. This kind of takes priority though, as I'd like to finsih it before the end of the summer.  
> Thanks for reading and all that.  
> I believe Jefferson will be making his return next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

Alexander’s party had taken a lot out of Angelica. 

It was not that she hadn’t had fun; she had very much enjoyed getting the chance to interact with other people who worked at Washington’s - no, she reminded herself, Hamilton’s - newspaper. What was so exhausting about it was having to sidestep questions about what she did or anything else that could give her away. This had been particularly difficult when she got roped into a conversation with an extremely friendly intern (her name was Mary Smith and apparently the only intern who was a girl, a fact that she repeatedly told Angelica with varying degrees of annoyance behind it), which just never seemed to end. Overall, it was an experience that she had enjoyed, but was not one that she was particularly in a hurry to experience again. 

Angelica and Peggy had left the party slightly early, as Peggy had school the next day and while Angelica was aware that she did have a few short comings as guardian to both of her sisters, she refused to let her own career impact either of them negatively. Peggy had protested (Angelica for a few seconds had been legitimately worried that she would have to pry her off of poor Lafayette), but she was clearly getting tired too and after a quick goodbye to Eliza, two thirds of the Schuyler sisters were out of the Washingtons’ house and walking back to their own home. 

“I want to go to France so badly,” Peggy complained, leaning against Angelica as they walked down the sidewalk. “Lafayette has seen basically everything and I’m so jealous.”

“Mhhm,” Angelica did not say much; Peggy went on endlessly about how much she loved French baroque architecture and as much as Angelica adored the fact that her little sister had something she was that passionate about, sometimes it was easier to just let her talk herself into exhaustion. Angelica, after all, hardly had the extensive knowledge about architecture that she did.

The Schuylers lived in a different part of town than the Washingtons, but luckily the walk was not too long. They made it home before Peggy had even run out of things to say in recounting her conversation with Lafayette. 

Maria was sitting on the couch, sewing some brightly coloured thing that would likely be absolutely gorgeous when it was done, even if it was unclear what exactly it was in it’s current stage. 

“Hi,” Angelica kissed Maria’s cheek before throwing her own coat over the back of a chair. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, James just had friends over and it was loud,” Maria told Angelica, over Peggy’s shoulder as the girl had immediately leaped to hug her. “He thinks I took an extra shift at the restaurant. He’ll be passed out by the time I get home.” After Peggy had let go, Maria fiddled with the edge of her blouse, not quite looking at Angelica. “You don’t mind that I came over, do you? I know you had said you were not going to be home most of the night…” 

“I gave you a key for a reason,” Angelica sat down next to Maria, wrapping her arm around the other girl’s shoulder. “That being so that you could come in whenever.”

A small smile peeked at the corner of Maria’s mouth. “How was the party?” 

Angelica became increasingly reaware of the headache that had been growing behind her eyes ever since somebody whose name she had long since forgotten had, upon finding out she was a writer, informed her that he wasn’t aware that ‘women were doing that now’. “It was an educational experience,” She finally decided upon. “I met a lot of people who work for Alexander’s paper. I...did not expect there to be that many. It was kind of exhausting. Do you care if we don’t really do anything tonight? I feel like if we try I may just pass out midway through a sentence.”

Maria nodded, shifting to allow Angelica to get into a more comfortable position curled up by her side. “I still need to finish this,” She held up the cloths she was sewing into something. “And peace seems nice, anyway.”

So they lapsed into a nice, comfortable silence, broken only by the click of Maria’s needles, and Peggy rushing down the stairs a few minutes later to say goodnight. When Eliza finally got home an hour later, Angelica found herself drifting off to the sound of her sister’s and her girlfriend’s voices. 

~~~

The first thing Angelica heard upon waking up was Peggy swearing loudly, and Eliza telling her to stop swearing and stop yelling before she woke Angelica. 

Taking in her environment, Angelica saw that she had been asleep spread out upon the couch, a blanket draped over her frame and a note placed on the table beside her. She picked up the note to read, immediately recognising the elegant cursive. 

Dear Angie,  
You fell asleep about half an hour ago, and you looked way to peaceful for me to wake you up before I left. Eliza said that you are going to talk to Alexander about an assignment today, so good luck and know that I will be wishing the best for you.  
I love you,  
Maria

Angelica smiled, slipping the note into her pocket and going off into the kitchen to tell Eliza and Peggy that they didn’t have to be quiet any more. 

~~~

“Hey, Angelica,” Alexander said with a yawn, letting Angelica into his office. She could tell in an instant that he was as tired as she was; his eyes were underlined by darker bags than usual and his movements were sluggish. She felt a moment of camaraderie with the boy, which she instantly chose to push to the back of her mind. She was being silly. “Please excuse the mess; Washington took his things out weeks ago, but I never got around to actually moving my stuff in.” 

“Wow,” Angelica whistled, looking around Alexander’s new office. “This is...really big.” That was an understatement. Washington’s office was a thing of legends around the journalism world (Angelica had heard it mentioned in two out of the three previous places she had worked, always with envy), but Angelica hadn’t fully believed them. Seeing it in person, while it did lack the golden chandelier that she had heard dangled from the ceiling, she had to admit that it was nice. Spacious and pristine, with a gorgeous view of the city out the two almost wall-to-ceiling windows on the far wall. 

“I love it!” Alexander practically gushed, all tiredness falling away to reveal some of his normal boundless energy. “Do you know what an amazing change it is to not have people constantly interrupting your work because they think that you can put in a nice word with the boss for them? Now I am the boss, so I get both the fantastic office and other people to be pestered for me! This is all I have wanted for years.”

Angelica, much to her surprise, felt a snap of relief. Alexander had seemed so jumpy when she had briefly spoken to him the night before; she was glad that he had calmed down. However, she did not voice that thought. It seemed unprofessional and this whole conversation had already been more than unprofessional enough for her. “Should...you said we were going to discuss my first assignment?”

“Oh, yes,” Alexander gestured to one of the two chairs floating around his room, some of the only furniture that had actually been unpacked. “Please, sit down. We can get right into it.”

Angelica sat down, readjusting her sweater. She was aware that it was a nervous habit (there was nothing about her sweater that needed adjusting), but chose not to be particularly bothered by that fact. Maybe the unprofessionalism was better. Now she just felt vaguely sick. 

“You know Paul Revere, right?” 

Angelica nodded. “He works for Jefferson’s paper. Just won a Pulitzer.”

“Exactly,” Alexander nodded. “Do you know how nice it is for somebody to actually know what I am talking about? Last night I was asked if he was a brand of beer. Unironically. Anyway, I was thinking that you could do an interview with him, in person. It’s a bit uncommon, but I think believable, that someone would send their assistant to conduct an interview for something more, no offense, filler. This way you can do a non-high stakes interview safely, and I can get a feel for your style.”

Disappointment tugged at Angelica’s heart, but she did her best to smile anyway. It was extremely silly to think that her first job would be anything important, even if Alexander had hired her for a specific purpose. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”

Alexander opened one of the boxes sitting alongside their two chairs and dug through it until he found a pale yellow folder, ‘Revere’ written in dark black ink across it. “I already talked to his assistant, Miss Ludington, and she confirmed that Revere would be open to doing an interview for someone from our paper at two o’clock pm, tomorrow, if that suits you.” 

Angelica nodded. She took out the small planner she kept in her coat pocket, writing ‘Paul Revere interview’ in the two o’clock spot. “Where is it to occur?”

“Jefferson’s place.” Alexander said with a scowl, and Angelica wrote that down as well. “If Jefferson is an ass to you or Eliza, tell me and I’ll ruin his career.”

Angelica forced a laugh, even though she was hardly sure if he was joking or not. “Trust me, I am more than capable of handling Thomas Jefferson on my own.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He called behind her as she left the office, and that time Angelica was mostly certain he was joking. She hadn’t been, though. She was fairly sure that she could take Jefferson. 

~~~

Evidently, the world was holding her to that statement. 

“Ms Schuyler!” 

Angelica shut her eyes for two seconds, willing her expression into one mostly pleasant. “Good morning, Mr. Jefferson.”

Thomas Jefferson, ever the sight, fell into step alongside her, with the notable addition of a bright maroon coat, and the notable lack of his small business partner. “I was hoping to catch you sometime soon. May we walk?”

“I was going to get a sandwich at the coffee shop.” Angelica said dryly, hoping that Jefferson would take the hint and leave. Unsurprisingly, he did not.

“I’ll accompany you, then.” For half a second, Angelica was afraid that he was going to put his hand on her arm, but, and thank all the gods, he did not. “I was going to go get a cup of coffee anyway.”

“How lucky.” Angelica said, faking some degree of enthusiasm that was hopefully convincing enough. 

In hardly a minute, they were stepping into the coffee shop. For a second upon entering the shop, Angelica was overwhelmed with relief that Alexander’s and Jefferson’s offices were a few too many blocks away from where Maria worked. She was afraid that if she ran into her here, she wouldn’t be able to hide a single emotion and everyone, including Jefferson would be fully aware of everything that she was keeping a secret. 

“Here, you grab a table; I’ll order,” Jefferson said, leaning closer to be heard over the chatter of the other people in the small shop. “You like ham sandwiches, right?”

Angelica’s eyes snapped up, giving him a suspicious look. 

He didn’t seem to be particularly impacted by it, just laughing. “We were both on debate team in high school, remember? You were the only person who brought a ham sandwich for every meeting. I was in charge of food all senior year and I have an impeccable memory.”

How had she gotten to the point that knowing that Jefferson had a random collection of information about her stored inside his head was a relief? She almost laughed aloud, purely at the ridiculousness of this whole situation. “A ham sandwich would be great, thanks.”

Jefferson got in line while Angelica waited at what was quickly becoming the only unoccupied table. A few minutes later he returned, along with his coffee and her sandwich. “Bon appetite.”

“If that was your attempt at showing off your high school French skills, I want you to know that I can say without a doubt, that I have never been less impressed by anything in my life.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jefferson said dryly, and Angelica was annoyingly reminded of her own voice earlier. 

They lapsed into an awkward silence, which, after a few bites of her sandwich, Angelica decided to break. “Where’s Madison? I hardly ever see the two of you apart.”

Jefferson scowled, all lightness vanishing from his previous expression. “He and his girlfriend, Dolley, went down to DC for the day. To a museum or something.”

Angelica tilted her head to the side. “Dolley? Dolley Payne?”

“Yeah,” Jefferson said, glancing up. “Do you know her?”

Angelica grinned. “You could say that.”

Jefferson gave her a weird look, but she couldn’t help it. For some reason, the idea of James Madison, of all people, dating her ex-girlfriend was so funny. Maybe because she had met Madison, and knew that Dolley had to tower over him. Also maybe because Dolley was bubbly and friendly and Madison was...himself.

Jefferson glowered at his coffee cup, clearly upset about something and Angelica wondered if it was morally wrong for her to neglect to ask him what was wrong. Probably, yes. Second question, did she care if not asking him was morally wrong? Also...yes.

She sighed. Ethics and morals were more complicated then, frankly, she thought that they needed to be. “Jefferson, is everything alright?” 

Jefferson jolted, nearly knocking over his own coffee. “Am I really that obvious?” He looked vaguely like he had just been slapped and Angelica almost felt bad for him. Almost.

He let out a harsh, loud breath. “It just...it feels so awful, you know? Caring that much about someone and knowing that they will never feel the same way about you.”

For almost half a second, Angelica thought he was talking about Dolley, but she quickly made the connection to who he was actually referring to. Her eyes widened. “Oh.” 

Jefferson looked slightly panicked, so different from his usual confident demeanor. “I know you won’t tell anyone. You can’t. I know that you are the same way.”

Angelica at first though that he knew about Maria, and ice cold fear gripped her heart, only relaxing when she realised that he had to just have known about her and Dolley. Nothing more. Don’t think too deeply, she reminded herself. You’re getting paranoid.

‘Thomas,” Angelica started. “I am so, so sorry.”

Jefferson shook his head. “Nothing any of us can do about it. Anyway,” With that, any bit of vulnerability was gone, replaced with insufferable arrogance and judgmentalism. “There was an actual reason I wanted to talk to you, I promise. How has finding a job gone for you?”

Angelica scowled, any friendliness she had previously felt towards the man before her vanishing abruptly. “Jefferson, I don’t want to work for you. Why can’t you understand this?”

“You are such a good writer though,” Jefferson argued. “I can’t mirror your ridiculous moral standards, but I can give you a platform where you can express your skills. You’re a smart girl, Schuyler, but you are never going to get what you want with your standards.”

“Somewhere out there, someone exists who can meet my standards,” Angelica snapped back, sandwhich long forgotten. “And I am sorry that cannot be you, but I am not willing to drop my expectations for your paper. Just because you think what I am doing is impossible, doesn’t mean that everyone in our world does.”

Angelica realised her mistake a second too late, immediately wanting to rip the words from mid air and throw them as far away from their table as possible. God, how could she have been so goddamn stupid? She could practically see Jefferson’s mind running a hundred miles a minute behind his fiercely intelligent eyes. He was going to see behind her eyes. He was going to realise that somebody else had hired him. What then? How long would it take him to realise that it was Alexander? For God’s sake, Jefferson had literally run into her right outside his door. 

But surprisingly, he didn’t say anything. He sipped the end of his coffee. “I have to admire your ironwill, Ms. Schuyler. Not everyone can shoot down a reasonable offer, again and again. And as much as I would love to try to persuade you more, I really must be going. James said that he would be getting home later this evening and I hope to have all of today’s paperwork filled out by then. Good Day, Ms. Schuyler.”

Angelica watched Jefferson leave, before looking back at her sandwich. She had a secret on Jefferson, but he had two on her. Ridiculously, as she had not cried in years, she felt tears burning at the corners of her eyes. What had she done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had something really important to say here but I forgot what it was.  
> The beer joke was because Paul Revere is actually the guy on Sam Adams bottles.  
> Peggy is not historically recorded as being into architecture, so I'm taking some creative liberties.  
> The conversation between Jefferson and Angelica was inspired by one time when he was asking her all these questions about his ex-girlfriend.  
> I have an update schedule now! I update every other Saturday. The week I don't update, I update my heathers multi-chap thing.  
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Oh, what I meant to say is that Mary Smith is pre-marriage Mary Woodhull. Not important, but I felt it was nice to mention regardless.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> half way to the end!

Eliza doodled some flowers. First, she drew daisies, like the ones Maria had brought the evening after Angelica introduced her. Second, she drew roses, like the ones that her mother had always kept in the kitchen. Third, she drew violets, like the ones that had been placed by Martha Washington upon the dining room table the night before. 

She was procrastinating, but at least they all looked pretty.

It felt very odd for her to be the only person home. Peggy was at school, Angelica was at work, and Eliza was becoming increasingly aware that she was going to be alone a lot more often until she finally saved up enough money to be able to go to college. 

She looked back at the paper she had sitting in front of her. This was how she was going to get the money, she reminded herself. And for that, it needed to actually get done. 

The night before, Alexander had given her the brief outline of what the children’s section of the paper was going to be about that week. He had told her that she had almost complete creative freedom when it came to illustrating that, just that whatever she decided upon had to in some way relate. She read over it again.

‘Children’s Section Topics:  
•Space exploration   
•Jump rope games  
•Board games’

Eliza decided, purely for organization's sake, that she would be going down the list from top to bottom. She began to sketch out a vague outline of an astronaut. 

The astronaut, as well as a few planets floating around behind it, took up the better part of her hour. Outlined with crisp black lines and filled in with bright colours, Eliza felt quite proud of it. But she found, having finished it, that she was again bored. 

Eliza leaned back in her chair, and had just sighed dramatically when her eyes drifted over to the phone. No, she reminded herself sharply, he’s working. You should be working. You don’t need him. 

But wow, did she really want to call him.

A compromise, she decided, if I call and he doesn’t pick up, that’s it. If I call and he does pick up, I’ll ask if he’s busy. 

Setting down her pencil, Eliza got up and picked up the phone. Alexander had given her the number for his office and she dialed the operator, enjoying the spin of the different numbers beneath her fingers. A woman’s voice answered and Eliza gave the numer. A few clicks, and Alexander picked up.

“Hello?” The voice was staticky, but unmistakably his. 

“‘Afternoon, Alexander,” Eliza said, keeping her voice casual. “Are you terribly busy?”

“Betsy!” His voice got noticeably warmer and Eliza couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips. “You actually caught me at the perfect time. I was about to go to my lunch break and try to find John, actually. That can wait though. How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Eliza twirled the phone cord around her fingers. “I drew an astronaut.”

“An astronaut...oh, for the paper! That’s wonderful. I’m positively sure it’s amazing.”

Eliza felt her cheeks turn red. “It’s...an astronaut. Nothing exceptional.”

“I’m sure it’s the greatest astronaut to have ever graced the papers of New York City,” Alexander said. She could hear him moving around on the other end of the call. “Would you mind if I dropped by later? I would love to see it.”

“Yes!” Eliza said excitedly, before catching herself and resuming a calmer tone. “I mean, that would be lovely. When do you get off?” 

“Give me an hour,” Alexander said after a moment of hesitation. “I can catch up with John, get some work done, and then come by for half an hour or so. Ben can run things for that long, I’m sure. See you then?”

“See you then.” Eliza confirmed. The phone clicked, and Alexander was gone. 

Eliza smiled, hugging the phone to her chest. You’re way too excited about this, she mentally scolded herself, you have a job to be doing.

She sat back at the table, resolving herself to spending the better part of the next hour making minor edits to her drawing.

•

Exactly an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Eliza practically bolted up from her chair, unendingly relieved to no longer be alone. Peggy was to be home in forty-five minutes, but Angelica wouldn’t be for another two hours. 

“Hi, Alexander!” Eliza said opening the door. She narrowed her eyes, taking in how jumpy he seemed to be. “Hey, are you okay?”

Alexander shook his head, anxiety coming off of him in waves. “I can’t find John. Franklin more or less brushed me off when I asked if he came in today, so I’m assuming that the answer is no. I know that John would have told me if he couldn’t come in for some reason; he always does. I need to talk to my dad, I had just promised that I would come here at a certain time, so...you know…” He trailed off, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I can look at your drawing really quick, but then I have to go,”

Eliza was already pulling on her coat. “I’ll go with you.”

“What?” Alexander’s eyes snapped up to meet hers. “No, you don’t need to. I’ll be fine.”

“Alexander, I’m coming with you.” She said, with as much finality as she could muster. “John is my friend too.”

Alexander attempted a smile, failing to provide more than a weak upturning at the corners of his lips. “C’mon.”

•

Alexander slammed the door to the Washington’s house open. “Dad!” He stormed inside with all the force of a hurricane.

Much more timidly, Eliza came in behind him. She closed the door with considerably less force than Alexander had opened it with. “Are you sure that he’s home?”

“He’s home.” Alexander confirmed. “Dad!”

Somewhere upstairs, Eliza heard a door open. “Alexander, please don’t yell in the house.”

“This is important,” Alexander said. He began running up the stairs. When Eliza hesitated to follow, he turned around. “Are you coming?”

She forced down all the uncertainty, the feeling that she shouldn’t be traipsing all over somebody else’s home, and nodded. 

Washington was upstairs in what looked like a study, reading an extremely thick book. “Alex, I assure you, whatever you are yelling about, it is not as big a deal as you feel it is.” At Alexander’s cough, he looked up. “Oh, good afternoon, Ms. Schuyler.”

“Hello, Mr. Washington,” Eliza mumbled. She forced herself to speak more clearly, reminder herself that Washington was kind of important and it would do her best to be respectful. “I am so sorry for taking up your time.”

“I’m not,” Alexander injected himself back into the conversation. “John didn’t come into work today.”

Something flickered in Washington’s eyes. Eliza couldn’t read it. Was it pity? Worry? Sadness? “Alexander,” He said, voice so gentle it was almost scary, “John quit. His last day was Friday, he left for the Carolinas this morning. I thought you knew.”

Alexander /crumbled/. “Why?” His voice cracked, and Eliza felt her heart clench. “How could he leave without telling me? I thought-” He broke off. 

Washington placed a hand on Alexander’s shoulder. “I can tell you with almost certainty, John never wanted to leave. He told me it was his father.”

“I hate that man.” Alexander curled his hands into fists, “I hate him so fucking much.” And before Washington could comment on his word choice, he bolted. 

Eliza immediately wanted to run off after him. She looked at Washington, and he nodded. “He will be in the backyard. There’s a bench under the tree. Go check on him.”

And so she followed Alexander.

•

She found him sitting on the bench, like Washington had promised, head in hands. “Alexander?” She said hesitantly, approaching him. “Are you okay?”

Alexander shook his head. “How could he? Better question, how could I not have noticed?” He wiped at his eyes, and Eliza pretended not to notice. “We had...we had some really strange discussions last night, and it briefly crossed my mind how final some of them seemed, but I ignored it. I didn’t want to think that he meant anything by it.”

“I’m so sorry, Alex.” Eliza whispered. “You don’t deserve this.”

He did not respond, at first. A few seconds later, he shrugged. “Maybe I did. Who knows? Maybe I did something to make him mad. Maybe that’s why he didn’t tell me.” 

“Or maybe he didn’t want to hurt you.” Eliza suggested. She wanted so badly to make him stop looking so broken. But what could she do? “Maybe he didn’t think that he could tell you himself.”

Alexander hardly seemed able to hear her. “The worst thing is, I can never know what he was thinking. I don’t know where is father lives. I don’t know a number I can call. I don’t know an address to which I can send letters.” His voice cracked. “I am never going to see John Laurens again.” 

He stopped talking after that, and Eliza found herself falling into silence too.

•

The sun was setting by the time Eliza got finally home.

She was exhausted. Alexander had been completely falling apart when she left and it was horrible to watch. She felt so bad for him, but couldn’t help the tiny bit of relief when Mrs. Washington got home and took over. Did that make her a horrible person? She was just...so tired.

She stepped inside, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. Turning around, she caught a glimpse of Peggy’s school bag sitting by the kitchen table. “Oh, no.”

“‘Oh, no’ exactly,” Angelica’s voice came from across from her and Eliza spun to see her sister and Maria sitting on the couch, Maria still working on her sewing from the night before. “Peggy ended up walking to the restaurant Maria works at, and she walked her here. Where were you? You said that you could pick her up. I expect more than this from you, Eliza.”

Eliza felt tears prickling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Angelica. Alex came over, and-”

That seemed to annoy Angelica more. “So you went off somewhere with Alexander? Didn’t he have work?”

“John is gone, Angie,” Eliza interjected, emotion finally bubbling over into her voice. “He left for South Carolina without telling us.”

“Oh, Betsy,” Angelica pulled Eliza into a hug, and she felt her tears overflowing as she tried to stifle a sob. “I know the two of you got along well.” 

“Alex told me about how awful his father is,” Eliza whispered, face buried in her sister’s shoulder. “I can’t stand to think of him living in that situation.”

Angelica gently pulled out of the hug, but didn’t let go of Eliza’s hands. “I know Henry Laurens is involved in politics. I know politicians. If Alex wants, I can see what I can find out.” She paused. “Anyway, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’ve been having a horribly stressful day, and shouldn’t take it out on you. Forgive me?” 

Eliza nodded, wiping away the tear tracks that traced her cheeks. “I went traipsing through the Washingtons’ house today. I kind of want to yell at someone too.”

Angelica kind of laughed, pulling Eliza into another quick hug before giving her a warm, tired smile. “If you want to go freshen up, Peggy, Maria, and I have dinner going to be ready soon. James is away on a business trip, so we have all the time in the world.” 

Eliza nodded, flashing a smile to Maria as well. “You three are more than I’ll ever deserve.” 

“That’s a lie, Elizabeth!” Peggy yelled from somewhere in the house, and Eliza finally smiled for real. 

•

“Eliza?” Maria knocked on her bedroom door as Eliza worked on adding the final details to her drawing. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” 

“Come in!” Eliza raised her voice, and a second later the door creaked open. “‘Evening, Maria. Feel free to sit down.”

“‘Evening,” Maria sat on the edge of Eliza’s bed, smoothing her flowered skirt over her knees. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Eliza set down her pen. Maria, as James was away on business, had agreed to spend the weekend at the Schuylers’ house. It was lovely; Angelica was rarely more happy than she was when Maria was over and Peggy and Eliza both adored her. “Of course. Is everything alright?”

Maria was hesitant at first, but she soon relinquished her silence to Eliza’s questioning eyes. “I’m worried about Angelica. She has been stressed for weeks, but I can’t help but feel like something happened today. She seemed...off. She wouldn’t tell me what happened.”

“She did mention that today had been more stressful than normal,” Eliza mused, replaying their earlier conversation in her head. “I figured it was because she met with Alex today.”

Maria shook her head. “I’ve seen Angie anxious about getting assignments before. This is different. I...I wish she would just tell me what was wrong.”

Eliza reached out and took Maria’s hand in her own, finding that it shook slightly. “I’ll try to talk to her, okay? Whatever is going on, I’m sure everything will be alright.”

Maria smiled gratefully, but Eliza could still see the worry clouding her face. “Thank you so much, Eliza. I really must be going to bed now. Goodnight.”

“‘Night.” Eliza waited for Maria to be gone before leaning back in her chair, sighing. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't edit or reread this. Because I'm a professional.  
> Anyway, this is officially the half way mark!   
> I am so so sorry for everything that happened in this chapter?   
> As always, my tumblr is penguinsarebetterthanpeople if anyone wants to hang out.  
> Thanks everyone so much for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the theme of this chapter is "fine"

Alexander hadn’t slept a second. How could he? Everything was falling apart.

He instead paced back and forth across his room, kicking books out of the way until he had worn a path in the chaos he’d managed to recreate since the night of the party. John was gone. He wasn’t fully positive, but he may have snapped at Eliza. He had an entire newspaper that he had to get up and put together in the morning. He had to tell Lafayette…

Alexander froze. Oh god, he had to tell Lafayette. He was going to be heartbroken. Lafayette and John had known each other for longer than even Alexander had; Lafayette knew all about the shit with John’s dad and John had been there for him when his parents died. Alexander abruptly felt a million tons heavier; he did not know if he had it in him to destroy Lafayette. 

Someone knocked at his door. “Alexander?” 

He jumped, but let out a slow breath as he recognised the voice. “Come in.”

The door opened and Martha Washington entered, probably having been woken up, if her nightgown and tangled hair were anything to go off of. “George and I could hear your footsteps. Are you alright?” She sat down on Alexander’s bed, and after a few seconds, he sat down beside her.

“I don’t know.” He said quietly. “I always knew that this was a possibility, but I never thought that he’d leave without telling me.” 

“Alex, if you don’t mind, I’m going to tell you a story I don’t usually like to talk about.” She looked at him, and at his nod, continued. “When I was young, extremely young, I married a man. Daniel Custis. He was older, but he was kind and intelligent and I loved him. We lived in this amazing, beautiful farmhouse in the country, and I was happier than I had been in my life. 

“We talked all the time about the future. We were going to travel all through Europe. He had been to London and Paris and Rome, but I had never been out of the country and he had shown me so many pictures he had taken. Then of course the war happened, so we never could. But he said the day it ended, he would get the tickets. Then afterwards, we were going to start a family. I looked forward so much to being a mother. 

“But Daniel...he had a weak heart. Not even a decade into our marriage, he died. The doctors said it was a heart attack. I thought that my heart was shattering. All of our plans were gone, ruined by our time being cut too short.” Martha was quiet. Alexander almost wanted to say something, but he couldn’t make himself break the silence. “I felt as if I would never be that happy ever again.”

Martha took Alexander’s hands in her tiny, soft ones. “But then, years later, I met George. He gave me everything I ever wanted out of life. We may never have gotten to London, Paris, and Rome, but we moved here to the city and he started the newspaper and it could not have possibly been more of an adventure. And when we tried for children and found that we were unable, we adopted you, and you gave us everything we could have ever wanted. 

“I loved Daniel, more than I can ever put into words, and losing him hurt terribly. But I moved on, and I found happiness again.” She squeezed his hand and smiled sadly. “I know how much you love John, and I know you must be hurting so much right now, but I promise you, it will get better. You still have Lafayette, you still have Eliza, you still have the company, and you still have George and I. You’re never going to be alone, Alexander.”

All evening and night, Alexander had felt like his ribs were crushing his heart, but in that moment, they felt lighter. 

•

He kind of slept. Martha went back to bed and Alexander spent the next three hours drifting in and out of dreams where he found and lost John over and over again. He awoke at five o’clock the next morning, even more exhausted than he had been before. And, because why-the-hell not, the horrible suffocating feeling was back. 

Alexander stared at the spot on the ceiling that he had seen the night of the party. It wasn’t a spider. It was just some stain. Clearly, his own perspective was not something to be trusted. So what was?

He sighed, rolling out of bed and finding his glasses. He had no desire to work and if he was still simply an employee, he would have called in sick. But he wasn’t simply an employee, and besides, he needed to talk to Lafayette. Alexander needed to do his job. 

Shower, hair, teeth, shoes, and Alexander was out the door, mumbling a goodbye to his parents right before it shut. He had glanced in the mirror right inside the door before he left and thought that he looked decently put together; nobody would be able to tell how much his mind wasn’t with him. 

The 6:15 bus picked up at the top of the corner. He only had to wait on his own, more than aware of John’s absence.

•

Alexander called Lafayette up to his office at eight. He knew Lafayette always came in early, and he thought that this discussion would be better to have without the incredibly nosy other employees being around. He already felt awful that Lafayette was the last one to find out, but that’s just how things were unfolding. Eliza was right there when he found out, and Lafayette still hadn’t replaced his phone after it got pushed (?) off a shelf by his dog and managed to literally break into two pieces. 

Lafayette opened the door, all bright smiles and more energy than anyone had the right to naturally have that early, both of which made Alexander want to vanish. “‘Morning, Alex! I brought you coffee.”

“God, I love you.” For half a second, everything was normal and Lafayette was just bringing him coffee like he did every day when their desks were next to one another. “Laf, we need to talk. You can sit down, if you want.”

Lafayette sat in Alexander’s other chair, which he had finally unpacked after Angelica’s visit. He bounced his leg up and down, and Alexander was -- as always - struck by the fact that the two of them had such similar habits, but Lafayette’s were born out of excess energy while his own were born out of anxiety. 

Alexander blinked. God, how easy was it to become completely distracted when you really did not want to think of something?

“Is everything okay?” Lafayette asked after a few seconds of silence. “You’re making me nervous.”

Well, might as well just say it. He inhaled. “John is gone.”

Lafayette’s smile faltered. “What?”

Alexander wanted to cry. “It’s his dad. He made John move back to South Carolina with him. He’s gone, Laf.”

Within half a second, Lafayette was up out of his seat and around the desk, pulling Alexander into a hug. Alexander stiffened at first, but when he felt Lafayette shake slightly, he hugged him back, allowing himself to sink into the other boy’s taller frame. All morning he had been imagining this, terrified that Lafayette was going to yell at him or leave and he’d end up losing him too. But instead, here they were.

“Are you okay?” Alexander asked eventually. “I mean, I know you’re not and this is all so awful, but...are you okay?”

“I...I don’t know.” Lafayette said, and Alexander felt his heart break further at the the quaver in his voice. “Do you care if I go home early today? I’ve already given Ben everything I need to, and I can edit my own article from home. I just...I don’t know if I can do this today.”

Alexander nodded at once. “Tell Ben to come to me if he needs anything, and get me the article whenever you finish. Telephone me later?”

“No, just come over when you get out of here.” Lafayette rubbed at his eyes. “Are you going to be all right here on your own?” Without me and…” His voice faded out at the end but Alexander knew what he meant. 

“I’ll be fine.” He promised. “And I’ll be over at...four or so.”

Lafayette shot him one final weak smile before leaving.

The door closed and Alexander sighed. He was alone.

•

It was actually closer to 4:30 when Alexander got off work. One of Jefferson’s employees had shown up and needed a meeting with Lafayette about God-only-knows what in regards to potentially transferring, Ben came panicking to Alexander about what exactly he was supposed to tell the woman, and Alexander had ended up having to calm Ben down and then trying to explain that yes, Lafayette was technically supposed to be there, but he wasn’t and everything was fine. It had been, to say the least, a long day.

On the bright side, he had hardly found the time to dwell on neither of his friends being there. 

“Did everything get dealt with?” Alexander asked, stopping by Ben’s desk. “I’m so sorry that Jefferson’s people were causing problems again. I swear I’ll talk to Lafayette about it and the whole matter will be dealt with.”

“It’s fine, really.” Ben said quickly, pulling all of his attention from whatever he was typing and instead focusing it on Alexander. “She wasn’t causing problems; there seemed to be some confusion in regards to what job positions were open. Everything has been resolved now though. I ended up going to talk to Franklin to confirm that he had a spot open up in his department.”

Alexander winced. Franklin was hiring for that already? He refused to react much more outwardly though. He clasped Ben on the shoulder, forcing a smile. “That’s excellent. I’ll pass on the message. Have a good evening.”

“You too.”

Carefully avoiding any unnecessary encounters, Alexander left and made his way towards Lafayette’s apartment. It was raining, and Alexander found himself quickly drenched. He should, he quickly decided, really have taken a cab. Or at least tried. It was hard enough to get one when it wasn’t raining. 

He finally got there, ran up the stairs to the third floor, and knocked on the door of the third apartment down. 

“Oh, Alexander, I’m so sorry.” Lafayette said the second he opened the door, shuffling Alexander inside. “If I had known it was going to rain, I never would have asked you to have come.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Alexander said, trying to keep from shivering. God, when did it go so cold? “I wanted to come.”

Lafayette bustled around, filling a kettle up with water and putting it on the stove. “I’ll make hot chocolate. If you want, you can go grab some dry clothes. They might be a bit too long, but…”

“It’s fine.” Alexander cut him off. “I’ll go get something.”

At that, Lafayette seemed to relax. “You know where to find them.”

•

Alexander appeared a few minutes later, dressed in one of Lafayette’s many sweaters and a pair of sweatpants. “Is the reason you own such an exceptionally large number of sweaters that your apartment is cold or that our workplace is cold?”

“A bit of both, to be honest.” Lafayette sat a cup of hot chocolate down in front of Alexander as he sank into a chair at the table. “Speaking of which, did any problems arise today? I feel so bad for leaving Ben without actually talking to him first.”

“Ben was fine,” Alexander did his best to reassure him. “You’ve trained him exceptionally well. There was a minor issue in regards to someone transferring from Jefferson, but it got dealt with.”

Lafayette grimaced. “I regret nothing more than agreeing for transfers to fall under my name.” He stopped, gaze falling scrutinising on Alexander. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s John’s job, Laf.” Alexander said miserably. “He’s hardly been gone forty-eight hours and already it’s like he’s being replaced. I mean, I know we have to fill the position, but it just feels like it’s too soon.”

Lafayette took a deep breath. “Gosh. Already? I’m almost glad Ben was there for it; I’m afraid that I would have had a complete breakdown then and there.” 

“I didn’t realise it was for John’s job until late.” Alexander stirred his hot chocolate, not drinking it. “Otherwise I would have been in the same boat.”

“Do you think we’re reacting too strongly?” Lafayette asked after a few seconds. “I mean, he moved from here to South Carolina, not to California or somewhere else impossibly far.”

“It’s not the distance.” Alexander said, trying to keep frustration out of his voice. Getting angry with Lafayette was pointless. This wasn’t his fault. “It’s the principle of the matter. He left without telling me. We’ve been together for ages now, and he just left me completely without saying anything!”

“Alex, please calm down.” Lafayette said, and Alexander felt awful when he heard how tired his friend sounded. 

“God, I’m sorry.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ve hardly slept and this is really stressful. I’m going to drink my hot chocolate now.” He took a long, overly dramatic sip from his mug.

That drew a smile out of Lafayette. “You, my friend, are completely ridiculous.”

•

“And you both pushed me into the lake!” Lafayette said indignantly, both him and Alexander completely dissolving into laughter immediately. “Fully clothed, I might add.”

“You were not fully clothed,” Alexander snorted. “You were wearing a bathing suit and a t-shirt. And it wasn’t even your t-shirt, it was John’s.”

“I still ended up in the lake.” Lafayette concluded. “At least I got my revenge though.”

“Yes, you and Adrienne refusing to help John and I with translating and leaving us to rely on our mediocre french while speaking to your parents was really equal-level revenge.” Alexander said. He curled further back into Lafayette’s couch, where they had moved twenty or so minutes before. There was a picture of the two of them, John, and Lafayette’s girlfriend, Adrienne, taken on a trip to France during their junior year, sitting on Lafayette’s coffee table. Thus the current conversation.

“I think he’ll call you.” Lafayette said, sounding surprisingly confident as he changed the direction of the conversation completely. “After everything has cooled down.”

That caught Alexander’s attention. “Really?” He hated how hopeful his voice sounded. 

Lafayette nodded. “John loves you, Alex. He wouldn’t abandon you like this forever. I believe in him.”

“You believe in everyone.” Alexander brushed him off, even though he found himself feeling surprisingly lighter than he had all day. John could call him. This did not have to be the end. 

•

Alexander was home, having left Lafayette’s with his own now-dry clothes and a borrowed umbrella, and he found that there was something he needed to do.

He picked up the telephone, calling the Schuylers’ home.

“Hello?”

“Good evening,” Alexander said, shooting a smile at Martha as she entered the kitchen and waved. “Is this Peggy?”

“Yes.” The youngest Schuyler sounded slightly suspicious. “Who is this?”

“Alexander Hamilton. Can you get Eliza?”

There was some shuffling, and then Eliza’s staticy, lovely voice came through the phone. “Alex? Is everything okay?”

Alexander grinned. “Do you ever feel like you’re sitting on the edge of something extraordinary?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That foreshadowing at the end though.  
> Hi! I feel like it's worth mentioning that John WILL be making his return eventually.   
> For anyone who doesn't know much about outside history, Adrienne is Adrienne de Lafayette, aka Laf's absolutely AMAZING irl wife. Look her up. She's a certified badass.   
> Thank you everyone so much for reading, kudosing, etc!


	12. Chapter 12

Apparently, Alexander was not holding meetings for the day.

That was according to Mary, the intern Angelica had met at the party, who said that she had heard from her ex-boyfriend, who had heard through his ex-girlfriend, who had heard it from an intern who worked under Lafayette. Mary had been copying papers (most of which Angelica was almost certain were not work related, but she was hardly going to say anything) by the door to his office when Angelica showed up.

“Ben said that Lafayette is out for the day too,” Mary said conversationally, pulling what had to be the twentieth copy of a page in some book off of the copier. “I have no idea what is happening, but it hardly seems fair. Abe, he’s the one who told me all of this, can’t get off for anything. He’s been trying to go visit his boyfriend’s father for the past month or so, but he can’t get a day off, and now I have to hear about it constantly and how much of an injustice it all is.”

“Sounds dreadful,” Angelica subtly glanced at her watch. She had half an hour to be at the meeting. This conversation really needed to be moving along soon. “Do you need some help with that?” 

The tiny girl had been struggling to pick up three extremely large books, as well as all of her photocopies. She looked at Angelica, relieved. “Oh, would you? Thank you so much.” She handed off two of the books. 

Angelica glanced down at the cover. “An economics textbook?” 

“Somebody in our department made a mistake in an article he submitted to Benedict Arnold. Now he’s making me make copies of all of these and distribute it to everyone. Which is so ridiculous. I’m not even the one who made a mistake! And on top of that, I have an article that I’m supposed to be working on. Arnold said he would even think about actually publishing it, but I imagine that’s not happening now.” Mary fumed all the way back to the desk she shared with whom Angelica imagined was Abe. She dropped the book she was holding onto their desk with a loud thump. Angelica put down the economics textbook she was carrying as well.

“Did you get the copies?” Abe asked, grabbing one off of the top of the pile. “Oh, thank God. Arnold had just stopped by to ask. If you want, I’ll pass them out so that you can get started on your article.”

“Don’t you have your own article to be working on?”

Abe shrugged. “I got stuck and didn’t like my idea. I’m considering asking if I can drop it and work on something else.”

Mary did hand him the papers, but not before giving him a disgruntled look. “Abraham Woodhull, you and I both know that your father did not let you get this internship to screw around and now write things.”

Abe went to reply, but before he could, Angelica forced her way into the conversation.

“I really must be going.” She said quickly. “Have a nice day, both of you. And Mary, good to see you again.”

“You too!” Mary smiled, flipping a few loose curls out of her eyes. She was immediately distracted by Abe, who had already managed to drop half of the papers. She sighed. “Wish me luck.”

“Yes, good luck with that.” And with that, Angelica practically ran back to the front of the office, hoping to avoid anyone else. She really was on a time crunch, and it would not do for her to be late to her first interview working under Alexander. Which was also, if she was being fully honest with herself, her first interview that actually mattered. She waved at the young man working at the front desk, and left outside.

She was instantly met with frigid air and a bustling crowd, already pushing her down the street to Jefferson’s offices. Jefferson himself was away on a business trip (Alexander had been sure to schedule the interview during the aforementioned business trip to avoid recognition) and Madison had supposedly been out sick for the past three days, with no prospect of returning anytime terribly soon. All she had to do was hope that she wouldn’t run into anyone who recognised her. 

“Good afternoon!” A young girl - probably around Eliza’s age, if she had to guess - greeted Angelica cheerfully as she entered the building. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Um, yes.” Angelica approached the front desk. “I’m here to conduct an interview with Mr. Paul Revere, on behalf of George Shirtliffe. I believe it should be scheduled under A. Schuyler?”

“Oh, Mr. Revere’s two o’clock appointment!” The girl leaned over the desk, reaching out to shake Angelica’s hand. “I’m Sybil, uh, Sybil Luddington. Just call me Sybil though. I’m Mr. Revere’s assistant. He should be ready to receive you in a few minutes. Feel free to just hang around as you wait!” 

As she waited, Angelica was struck by Sybil’s boundless energy as she skipped around behind the desk, moving papers around and on occasion answering the phone. Her huge amount of thick black curls bounced up and down and every so often she had to stop and push her light pink glasses back into place. 

Eventually, the phone rang again.

“Hello?” Sybil answered. “Oh, yes!” She smiled at Angelica. “We’ll be right in.” 

•

Paul Revere had the extraordinary ability to make people feel like he was the one in control of every situation. Angelica was fully aware of this. She had read more than a few accounts of meeting him before. But still, nothing beat experiencing it in person. 

“I am so sorry that Mr. Shirtliffe couldn’t make it today,” Angelica said, sitting across from his desk in a chair that was considerably more cushioned than any in Alexander’s office. “He sends his apologies.”

“Yes, yes,” Revere seemed to hardly be paying attention. “If you don’t mind, I would like to quickly get onto the questions.”

Angelica glanced at Sybil, who had taken up residence in the corner. She nodded encouragingly and Angelica got started. “What made you decide that now was the time to speak about your experiences in Russia?”

Revere paused for a moment to consider his answer. “A month before I started writing, I was at a panel to hear a few different writers speak. One spoke of how he failed to see how under communist lead, there could be any sense of freedom. Obviously, the Soviet Union is facing drastic new leadership and with that comes changes. I felt that now, facing new possibilities, it would be appropriate to look back and reflect.”

Angelica nodded, glancing at her tape recorder to make sure it was working. “Do you think that you would have eventually wrote this story even without a change in leadership? Or, at least, no changes in leadership that lead to changes in society?”

“No.” Revere answered at once. “If that was the case, my article would simply fall into the unending flow of articles that detail observations based upon current events. Because of these changes, I am able to analyse what was, what is, and what potentially will one day be.”

“So you are hopeful for the future?” 

“I believe that we must welcome hope if we want situations to improve.”

Angelica flipped to the next page of her notebook where her questions continued. “In your article, you use standing in line as an analogy for the end of Stalin’s regime. What inspired that?”

“I saw Russians standing in huge lines to buy things. Here, I have a few pictures.” He reached into his desk and handed them to Angelica. “I do not doubt that these lines will continue to be around post-Stalin, but we can hope that these lines will shorten, both figuratively and literally.”

Eventually, the final question. “You have mentioned on a number of occasions the elderly woman with whom you stayed while in Russia. Do you plan on going back to visit her again? And is she aware of the article?”

Revere almost looked sad for a second. “Unfortunately, she and I lost contact after I came back home. However, I hope to oneday see her again.Yes, I think that that would be quite lovely.”

Angelica stopped her tape recorder and smiled widely at Revere. “Those are all of my questions. Thank you so, so much.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Revere was already pulling back out whatever he had been working on before she got there. “You’re welcome for my time. Sybil?”

Sybil rushed over to Angelica. “Thank you so much for taking the time to come talk to us. May I walk you to the front?”

Angelica nodded and the two girls walked outside. The second the door shut, Sybil let out a long sigh. “He’s such a jackass, is he not?”

Angelica looked up, surprised. “Sorry?”

“Revere,” Sybil clarified. “He’s a horrible boss. And he hates women reporters, which is why he was so cold to you.”

Angelica shrugged, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable. There had to be some unspoken rule that you were not supposed to badmouth your interviewees hardly feet outside of their office. “He wasn’t that horrible.”

Sybil raised an eyebrow, almost cartoonishly. “He said the phrase ‘you’re welcome for my time’.”

At that, Angelica kind of laughed. “That did almost throw me for a loop.”

“You’re kind of my hero right now,” Sybil continued. “I want to be a real reporter so bad, but Revere won’t let me move up and Jefferson hardly cares enough to intervene.” 

Angelica shrugged, feeling like that was the biggest way she was able to contribute to this conversation. Where was Sybil going with this? She suddenly felt ice cold anxiety creeping into the back of her mind. What if Jefferson knew about her? What if he was using Sybil to get her to let her guard down. “I’m just filler for Shirtliffe. He’s the real reporter.”

They were almost back to the desk when Sybil turned and looked at Angelica directly in the eye. Her eyes were bright green and deeply serious. “My lunch period is about to start. If you don’t have another engagement, can we have lunch? There’s something I want to talk to you about, one non-reporter to another.” 

Angelica rapidly thought through her day, which proved to be more or less free for the following hours. She nodded. “I can do that.”

•

They were at the same place Angelica and Jefferson had met the day before. Angelica had to appreciate things having gone full circle.

“This is going to have to be really fast,” Sybil said between bites of her salad. “My department only has half-hour lunch breaks. Apparently this is because we have too much work, but Madison’s has more than ours and he could be on lunch break forever and Jefferson wouldn’t say anything about it.”

Angelica smirked, unwrapping her sandwich. If only she knew. “You said you wanted to talk about something?”

“Yes,” Sybil set her fork down, all professionalism. “I don’t know if you can do anything, but... I need somebody else to know.”

“Sybil, we’ve hardly met and-”

She cut her off. “Revere didn’t write that article!” She immediately shrank back. “Um, I did.”

Angelica just kind of stared. “Elaborate.” She pulled out her notebook that she had just used for the interview with Revere.

Sybil nodded. “My mother is from Russia, but she moved here as a young woman and my siblings and I were all born here. We all grew up hearing stories about her childhood and what it was like there. She died about two years ago, and my brother Lewis and I immediately started planning the trip. We wanted to try to find a way to still be close to her, you know?”

Angelica nodded. She did, very much so. That’s where the stories she told Eliza and Peggy about their parents came from. 

“Our grandmother was still there, so we ended up staying with her,” Sybil continued. “Do you remember the elderly woman Revere spoke of? That was my grandmother. He stole my grandmother.” She looked so angry for a second, before taking a few breaths and calming herself back to normal. “I took all kinds of notes because I wanted to ask Revere, or hell, even Jefferson, if I could write an article on it. At that point I had never gotten published under a serious article, so I had thought that that could have been a good opportunity. 

“I talked to Revere about it, and he even asked me if he could take my notes to review them for awhile. I was so excited. That made it even worse a month or so later when I found what should have been my article published under his name.”

Angelica gripped her pen so hard that it risked snapping in two. “What a fucking asshole.” She said angrily. “I can’t believe he...I mean, I knew he was a prick but I hardly thought he was that awful.”

“Nobody does,” Sybil had her fork back in her hand and stabbed it into a chunk of lettuce, causing a loud clanking noise that made both of them start. “Which is why I couldn’t get anyone to believe me. I filed a complaint with PR, but nobody seemed to care. I got a memo back saying that it was being looked into, but then never anything after that.” She bit her lip. “And then he got the pulitzer…I cried for hours.”

As Sybil finished her story, Angelica felt her heart break for the girl. She herself had had one particularly horrible experience at a small magazine she briefly worked at in high school, where she did almost all the work for articles only to have somebody else’s name stamped on it. It had felt terribly demeaning and she had nearly given up on writing entirely. “Sybil, can I ask you a few questions? I think this is an article that needs to be written a lot more than that interveiw with Revere.”

Sybil looked at her, expression filled with what looked as if she wanted to be relieved, but was still to scared to get all the way there. “Would Shirtliffe be okay with that?”

She hesitated. Should she tell Sybil? No...she couldn’t do that. “He will be more than okay with that.” Angelica lied. “Trust me.”

Sybil beamed. “Where shall we begin, then?”

•

Angelica got home late that night, exhausted, but relieved. Everything with Sybil had gone amazingly. Between the two of them, they had come up with enough information about Revere, how awful he was to Sybil, how awful he was to other people who worked under him, how he had stolen her article, and Sybil’s own experiences to write an article that could insure with almost complete confidence that Revere would never be able to work his way out of it. 

She walked into the kitchen, where Eliza sat at the table drawing in one of her notebooks. 

“Hi,” She didn’t look up from the book. “Peggy is upstairs doing homework. I left a bowl of soup in the fridge for you. If you want, I can warm it on the stove.”

“Don't trouble yourself.” Angelica said, putting her bag in one of the chairs. She walked over to the fridge. “What are you working on? Something for Alexander?”

“No, it’s just for fun.” Eliza put her pen down. “Angie? What were you upset about last night?”

“Oh, that?” Angelica looked over at her little sister as she poured the soup into a pot and lit the stove. “It’s nothing.”

“No, don’t say that.” Frustration was beginning to seep into her voice, unusual for someone as calm as she generally was. “Angelica, this has been bothering me all day. You never tell anyone about your problems, even though we all put ours upon you constantly. So again, what were you upset about last night?”

Angelica sat back down so that she was across from Eliza. “Do you know Thomas Jefferson?”

“Yes, Alexander complains about him endlessly. Uh, apparently he is ‘as much of a failure as a journalist as he is as a person’.”

Angelica laughed. “He’s not that bad. He has been trying to recruit me for months though. We ran into each other the other day and ended up getting coffee. He told me some...kinda personal stuff because he knew we had some things in common. And I kind of accidentally implied that I was working somewhere. He didn’t seem to notice. It really was hardly that big of a deal, but the stress from that was getting to me and I ended up snapping at you.

“Not that that excuses it,” Angelica immediately clarified. “I’m so, so sorry for that.”

“You’re forgiven.” Eliza said simply. “And I’m glad it wasn’t a big deal, but if it was, you would tell Peggy, Maria, and I, wouldn’t you?”

Angelica nodded, even though she really was not so sure. Would she? More than that, could she, having always been the oldest and responsible for her sisters?

•

Eliza and Peggy - who had joined them around the time the soup was done - went upstairs after Angelica ate, Eliza mentioning on her way up that Maria was to stop by in half an hour or so.

Maria had hardly been there ten minutes when Angelica saw the bruises circling her wrist. 

“Maria?” She said softly, seeing the way she immediately tensed up and tried to pull her sleeve further down. “Was it him?”

She gave up trying to cover them and nodded miserably. 

“We need to get you out of there,” Angelica said, trying not to show her extreme, undying hatred for James Reynolds in her voice. Nobody needed her anger right then. “He can’t keep doing this.”

“It’s hardly that big of a deal,” Maria said, and Angelica was uncomfortably reminded of her conversation with Eliza earlier that night. “He was angry. It hardly ever happens.”

“But it does happen!”

“Angelica,” Maria said firmly. “You know I could never survive economically on my own.”

“I could help you.” Angelica tried, but she knew that there was hardly any point. Maria refused every time.

“Enough,” Maria pulled Angelica over to their favourite spot on the couch. “Now, tell me, how did your interview go?”

They launched into light, happy conversation, and ANgelica pretended she that she didn’t feel as if with every word she was failing her girlfriend even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD THIS WAS LONG.   
> Some notes:  
> 1\. Yes, that's Mary and Abe Woodhull. Yes, I'm Turn trash.  
> 2\. Last night I realised that copiers may not have been invented by this point. I did some research and from what i understand, they were starting to gain popularity in the late 1950s. Because I was so vague about when this takes place, I figure it's okay to have one here.   
> 3\. Yes, Benedict Arnold is a horrible person in this. No, I don't feel bad about it.  
> 4\. I honestly have no idea if I ever noted this before, but Angelica's alias is inspired by Deborah Sampson and George Elliot. If you don't know them, look them up.   
> 5\. I suppose I need to apologise to Paul Revere's ghost? I'm sure he wasn't actually that bad of a guy.  
> 6\. I largely just made up Sybil and Revere's personalities. I tried to do a little research, but really couldn't find out much in that department.   
> 7\. Revere's article was inspired by Russia Re-Visited by Harrison E. Salisbury. He did actually win a Pulitzer for it in 1955.   
> 8\. So around the early 50s, stalin's regime ended and was replaced with Khruschev. everything was way strickter under stalin than under khruschev. with khruschev came more freedom, less censorship, etc. I apologise for any glaring innacuracies; as facinating as I find the Soviet Union and Cold War to be, the American Revolution and early politics are more my thing.   
> 9\. divorses were particularly rare for women at the time because it was basicaly impossible for them to get a job that paid high enough for them to provide for themselves  
> 10\. I really need a tenth point, so it will just be that I didn't edit any of this because I was supposed to go to bed twenty minutes ago. I am so sorry.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads! Have a lovely day.


	13. Chapter 13

Eliza had only just entered the office when she was abruptly yanked into a closet.

“Holy sh-”

“Shhhhh!”

She blinked a few times, becoming accustomed to the sudden darkness, and squinted at the person in front of her. “Alexander?”

He smirked, hand still on her arm. “The one and only. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Eliza said, becoming increasingly aware of exactly how little distance there was between her and Alexander. “And I would ask you the same thing, but I’d honestly just like to know why we’re in this closet.”

Alexander dropped her arm and placed his hand over his heart. “Eliza, do you truly have no sense of adventure? This is hardly a closet, but instead the beginning of your tour of our beautiful newspaper kingdom here.”

Eliza laughed, then jumped when a coat sleeve rubbed against her neck. “Could we possibly get to the part of the tour that is not in the closet? I believe that the boss may wish his employees to get some work done today.”

“I feel like perhaps the boss would understand the importance of this tour,” Alexander said in mock seriousness. “But alas, if you wish to exit the closet, we will.” He opened the door and Eliza quickly stepped out, blushing deeply when the man working the front desk gave her and Alexander a strange look. 

“This, as you are likely aware, is our front desk!” Alexander told her, carrying on as if nothing about this was strange in the slightest. “And this is James. He knows more about everyone than anyone else in this office.”

James waved and Eliza waved back. Not strange in the slightest. 

•

“And for our final stop on the tour,” Alexander said. “We have the most important stop off all.’

“I thought the most important stop was your office?” Eliza said wearily. “Or the secret snack closet.” It had been twenty minutes since the beginning of the ‘tour’. Who would have thought this would be what she spent her first day of formal work doing? 

“Yes, and while those are very important, I think ultimately this is the most important.” Alexander came to a stop near one of the windows. “Eliza Schuyler, meet your new desk. And your desk buddy. You’ve met John Trumbull, right? At the party?”

“I do believe we have,” Trumbull stood up and took her hand. “Miss Schuyler, nice to see you again.”

Eliza smiled widely. “And you, Mr. Trumbull.”

“I figured the two of you would get along well,” Alexander was basically hopping back and forth from foot to foot, watching the two of them. “Eliza, Trumbull is basically the informal head of the art column. I know you are in illustrations, but he should be able to help you get things worked out. Meanwhile, I’ve got to go. Good luck!”

“Bye, Alex…” She trailed off as he disappeared around the corner. 

•

Trumbull had decided that it would have been worthwhile to begin by showing Eliza some of the future articles that there was going to be a need of illustrations for. 

“Alexander told me about the situation with your sister,” Trumbull said, dropping his voice down to be sure that only Eliza would be able to hear him. “But I don’t see where the harm would be in having you take a few extra articles on the side.”

“I would love that,” Eliza said, running her finger down the list of topics. “Thank you so much.”

“Eliza!” 

She jumped, turning around to see Alexander rushing towards her. Immediately, she was reminded of the first time she had encountered him that morning. “Alex? Is everything alright?”

“Everything is great,” Alexander rushed out. “Trumbull, I’m so sorry but I’m going to have to borrow Eliza for a minute.”

Trumbull smiled, folding up the list and tucking it into a file. “I’ll save the rest of the list for later then. Eliza, did Alexander show you where the mailboxes are?” At her nod, he continued. “In that case, I’ll leave this in your mailbox and see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Eliza said quickly, Alexander already turned around and setting off back towards his office. “Alex, seriously! What is going on?”

“Emergency meeting,” He called back over his shoulder. “I need to go grab something, so just head on in. Everyone else is already in there.”

Perplexed, Eliza opened the door to the office and stepped inside. She blinked, seeing the two figures sitting on the couch. “Angelica? Lafayette?”

“And Peggy!” Peggy said loudly, from where she spun in Alexander’s swivel chair. “Hi, Lizzie.”

“Hi…” Eliza said slowly. “What is everyone doing here?”

“Angelica called an emergency meeting with Alex and then he called an emergency meeting with the rest of us,” Lafayette told her, breaking off at the end into a coughing fit. 

“And afterwards Lafayette is going home because just watching him is physically hurting me,” Alexander said, stepping into the room behind Eliza and making her jump. “Seriously though, how is it that I am the one who hangs out in the freezing rain and you’re the one who gets sick? Also, Peggy, get out of my chair.”

“Oh, leave me alone,” Lafayette said, sinking further into where he sat as Peggy bounded over to sit beside him. “I abruptly got really dizzy coming in this morning and almost fell into Arnold and then he yelled at me. It was scary. Then I coughed not on him, but in his general direction, and he yelled at me some more.”

“You poor child,” Peggy said sympathetically, patting his shoulder. “Next time I see him I’ll beat him up for you.”

“No you will not!” Both Angelica and Eliza said at once. 

Peggy sighed, blowing her hair off of her face. “Well somebody has to defend Lafayette’s honnor.” 

Eliza watched the conversation back and forth as Peggy and Alexander argued who got to defend Lafayette’s honor, while the man himself weakly protested that his honor was hardly in need of defending, still extremely confused. “You said this was an emergency meeting, correct? So why does nobody else seem even slightly concerned as to what’s going on?”

“Yes, right!” Alexander said, quickly putting an end to the honor debate. “Angelica, you have the floor.”

“Thanks,” Angelica said, and suddenly Eliza and everyone else found their attention drawn to her. Angelica really could be a quite demanding presence when she tried. “I already told Alexander all of this, but so basically I had my interview with Paul Revere yesterday - you know, the guy who wrote that Russia article? - and it was really weird. He wasn’t exactly...nice. But I ended up talking to his assistant, Sybil Luddington, and she told me that she was actually the one who wrote the majority of the article and Revere stole it.” Angelica pulled a notebook seemingly out of thin air. “I have the notes of everything she said here. I’d appreciate it if all of you could read over them, but her story seems to check out.” She handed the notebook to Lafayette, and he, Peggy, and Eliza all leaned in together to see it. 

“I met Revere once at some function Washington had,” Lafayette said slowly as he read. “I didn’t like him. This intensifies that dislike.”

Eliza looked up at Angelica. If she knew her sister half as well as she thought she did, this article was not going to end up being about Revere’s article. “What are you going to do?” 

“Well, I was hoping,” Angelica glanced nervously at Alexander. “That maybe I could instead write an article about Sybil?”

Alexander looked relieved. “I seriously thought I was going to have to suggest that to you myself.”

Angelica squealed, nearly knocking Alexander over as she hugged him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!”

Eliza shot a grin at Peggy, happy to see Angelica so excited after everything had been going so horribly the few days before. 

“We’re going to have to get more evidence though,” Alexander continued after Angelica let him go. “I don’t know about you all, but I prefer not to be sued for slander. Laf, you have contacts in Jefferson’s group, right?”

“Don’t say it like that, you make me sound like a spy,” Lafayette said, reaching for the tissue box on Alexander’s desk. “But yes, Abby Adams is a friend of Adrienne’s, and I think she likes me well enough.”

“Of course she likes you well enough, you’re the greatest,” Alexander said, pacing back and forth. “Abby is a reporter, right?”

“She wrote the ‘Remember the Ladies’ article.”

“Oh my gosh!” Eliza blurted out, hands instantly rushing up to cover her mouth. “Sorry, I just realised. Her article was about women not receiving recognition for their own work! She has to be on our side; we’re arguing her entire point.”

“Exactly,” Alexander smiled widely, and fireworks erupted in Eliza’s heart. “Now, Abby hates me, but if she thinks she’s doing this for Laf and Angelica, I think that she’d be on board.”

“What about Burr?”

Alexander abruptly quit pacing. “What about him?” 

“Well,” Lafayette said, sounding extremely uncomfortable, although Eliza couldn’t possibly imagine why. “He does work in scheduling. If Revere had really gone to Russia, wouldn’t Burr have been aware?” 

Alexander considered that for a second. “Does Burr like you?”

Lafayette shrugged. “He doesn’t dislike me.”

Alexander’s gaze wandered around the office before coming to rest on Eliza. “Betsey. You would be perfect!”

Eliza jumped. “What for?”

“For persuading Burr,” He said, having once again resumed his pacing. “Yes, I imagine between you and Lafayette you could convince both him and Abby. Do you mind?”

Eliza anxiously chewed on her lip. “Um, well, I guess. Didn’t you want Lafayette to go home though?”

At that, Alexander did look apologetic. “Gil, I’m so sorry. Do you think you’ll be okay?”

Lafayette shrugged. “I’ll live.”

He was hardly convincing, but Alexander left it at that. “In that case, we’ll all meet back here later. Preferably tomorrow, because I really do think Laf should go home. Eliza, would you mind stopping back and telling me what happens?”

Eliza nodded, before turning to her sisters. “I suppose I’ll see the two of you tonight then.”

Angelica pulled her into a quick hug. “Good luck. And be careful.”

Eliza gave her an odd look, but did not ask. Neither the time nor the place. “I will.”

On the way out the door, Alexander pulled Eliza aside. “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” He whispered. They waited until everyone else had filed out of the office before he spoke again, still quietly. “Can you look out for Lafayette for me? I know he’ll never actually complain, but maybe make sure he actually goes home when you’re all done?”

“I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Eliza promised. “Don’t worry.”

Alexander smiled and Eliza forcefully reminded herself that smiles didn’t have to mean anything. She was being ridiculous. So, so ridiculous.

•

“Are you sure you’re not too cold?” Eliza said worriedly, looking at Lafayette as the two of them hurried down the street to Jefferson’s office. “You can borrow my scarf, if you’d like.”

“I’m fine,” Lafayette reassured her, even as he pulled his blue jacket tighter around his shoulders. “We’re almost there anyway. And you look cold too. I wouldn’t want to take your warmth.”

Eliza honestly could not say that she was too upset about that. It was so cold. She found herself wishing that she had brought a heavier coat that morning. “Do you think it might snow?” She asked, looking at the grey cloud-filled sky. 

“I hope so,” Lafayette said, sounding about as cheerful as one could with chattering teeth. “I love snow. Adrienne - I don’t know if I’ve mentioned her, but she’s my girlfriend back in France - her family has a house up in the mountains and every time she went up in the winter she would send me so many photographs. We didn’t get as much where I lived, so I was always jealous.”

Eliza laughed. “Peggy and I like the snow, but Angelica hates it. She says she’s going to retire to Florida one day and never see it again.”

“Alex would be joining her,” Lafayette said. “He hates it too. Says we’re all ridiculous for wanting to risk acquiring frostbite in some weird wet stuff.”

Abruptly, the conversation halted. They were there. 

Eliza glanced nervously at Lafayette, and he smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Abby and Burr really are not that bad. Alex is just exceptionally good at making enemies. I’m sure they’ll like you.” 

“If you’re so sure.” Eliza opened the door and they both stepped in, instantly being flooded by warm air. “Oh my gosh, this is so much better.”

“Don’t let Alex hear you say that; he’ll have both of our heads.”

The man at the front desk, taller than Eliza, shorter than Lafayette, seemingly more annoyed than the both of them, cleared his throat. “Do the two of you have an appointment?”

“Good afternoon, Burr,” Lafayette said, his normal friendliness giving way to a very formal, almost cold, polite tone. “We actually needed to talk to you about something, as well as Abigail Adams, if she is available.” 

Burr sighed and pulled out a binder. He flipped a few pages, seeming not to be in any actual sort of hurry, before finally finding whatever it had been he was looking for. “Adams should be free now. I suppose if you insist, I’ll try to get her to schedule a meeting with Gilbert Lafayette and,” He looked at Eliza, and she felt herself shrinking under his stare. “You’re one of the Schuyler girls, right?”

Eliza took a deep breath. This man was not going to be the one to intimidate her. She stuck her hand out and forced a smile. “Eliza Schuyler. And you’re Mr. Aaron Burr, I presume?”

Burr took her hand and gave it a fast shake, before dropping it as if she had something toxic on it. “A pleasure. The two of you may sit down; I’ll be back with or without Adams in a minute or two.”

Burr left, Lafayette and Eliza sitting in a silence only broken by the occasional cough from Lafayette. 

When Burr did return, he was alone. Eliza felt her heart sink, but only until Burr spoke. “She’s in a meeting room. Please follow me.” 

Lafayette stood up and Eliza quickly stumbled up beside him, and they followed Burr into a nearby room. 

A woman, not particularly large but still a commanding presence with tightly pulled back dark hair and an intensely intelligent gaze, sat the head of a small table. 

“Mrs. Adams, we’re so sorry to bother you and Burr.” Lafayette said quickly. He seemed to jump for a few seconds between bowing and shaking his hand, before just extending his hand and awkwardly nodding. “I’m Gilbert Lafayette; I don’t know if you remember me but-”

“I remember you,” Abby nodded, shaking his hand. “I believe we met at Jean de Noailles’ and then again at some sort of function. You got hired by Washington, correct?” 

“Yes,” Lafayette glanced at Eliza. “That’s actually why Eliza and I are here today.”

“Um, I’m Eliza Schuyler,” She said quickly, picking up on Lafayette’s unspoken hint. “It’s so nice to meet you.” They shook hands and Eliza tried not to let hers shake. Angelica was going to flip when she heard about this. 

Abby took her seat back, gesturing to the rest of them to sit as well. “What was it you had to talk about?”

•

It didn’t take long for Lafayette and Eliza to explain everything to Abby and Burr. 

“We were really hoping that either of you would be able to help us,” Lafayette said, looking nervously between Abby and Burr. His voice was hoarse; Eliza had tried to get him to stop talking midway through, but he seemed determined to finish it out. “If we could gather more evidence, we could better argue for Ms. Luddington.”

Abby, in response, addressed Eliza. “And it’s your sister who discovered this?”

Eliza nodded. “Yes, Angelica is my sister. She’s putting together the research for the article.” That was what they had agreed upon calling it. “Um, if at all possible, could you maybe not mention that to Jefferson? He had been very intently trying to recruit her.”

At that, Abby cracked a smile. “I will avoid mentioning it to him. If possible, I would like to sometime meet your sister. I have a great respect for women in the journalism industry and would like to make the acquaintance of such a woman, especially one with such a seemingly riveting story on the way.”

Eliza’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you’ll help us?”

“Yes, I think I will be.”

All attention turned to Burr, which he met with his own hesitant gaze. “I am not comfortable with the idea of undermining Jefferson.” 

“You wouldn’t be undermining Jefferson,” Lafayette argued. “You would be undermining Revere. And as far as I’m aware, he hardly has any authority. And certainly not over the scheduling department.”

Burr’s face was blank and no matter how hard she tried, Eliza could not figure out what side he was leaning towards. “Can you give me time to think it over?”

Lafayette and Eliza exchanged a look. “Yes, I believe that could work.” Lafayette finally said. “Can I give you the office telephone number?” 

Burr agreed, and Lafayette wrote it down for him. As final exchanged were held, Eliza let a smile break out across her face. Everything was falling together so perfectly, and she was right in the middle of things. 

•

Lafayette had held it together during the meeting, but on the way out, it became clear that he was completely exhausted. They ended up taking a taxi. 

“Sorry about all of this,” Lafayette said, leaning into Eliza’s shoulder as their taxi attempted to make its way down the street towards his apartment. “I know Alex probably told you to look out for me.”

“Oh, don’t be sorry,” Eliza gave him a warm smile. “This has been a really exciting day.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, things aren’t always this all over the place. I think this is only my second time having to go hunt down people for Alex.”

“The second time?”

Their taxi pulled up to his apartment. “I guess I’ll have to tell you that story later.” Lafayette hugged her before stepping out. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Eliza said, right before he closed the door behind him.

“Where to, miss?”

“New-York Evening Post Office, please.” Eliza curled up in the seat, and waited to get back.

•

The same man who had been working at the front desk that morning was still there when Eliza walked in. “Here to meet somebody in the closet again?”

Eliza let her hair fall in front of her face, knowing she was at least blushing a little. “I’m so sorry about that.”

The man sighed. “Don’t worry, not the first time it’s happened.”

She had no idea how to respond to that, so she simply smiled at him before hurrying back to Alexander’s office. She hardly knocked on the door before he opened it and pulled her inside. 

“How’d it go?” He asked hurriedly. “Did they say yes? And how is Laf?”

“Lafayette is really tired, but he seems okay.” Eliza told him. “And Abby Adams is on our side, but Aaron Burr says he has to think about it. Lafayette gave him the office number.”

Alexander rolled his eyes. “Of course. I have never met somebody with less opinions and beliefs than Burr. I imagine we’ll hear from him soon. Thank you so much for stopping by to tell me.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all,” Eliza said, stepping back slightly as she realised that their current position almost perfectly mirrored the one they had been in in the closet earlier. “Thank you so much for allowing me to be included in everything.”

Alexander gave her an odd look. “Of course. You’re just as important to this as everyone else.”

Eliza kind of smiled. “Thanks, Alex. That’s sweet to say.”

She had to be imagining it, but for half a second, she thought that maybe he was blushing. Of course, she instantly reminded herself, there was no reason he actually would be. He didn’t like her like that, and he never would. Not that she cared, of course. 

He laughed it off. “Bye, Betsey. Be safe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god this got so long.  
> anyway, important notes:  
> 1\. James the desk guy is James Armistead Lafayette. He's amazing, and anyone who doesn't know much about him should totally look him up.  
> 2\. in real life, Trumbull was only a year older than Eliza, but in this universe he's more older. Honestly I've messed with ages so much in this thing, I'm now just beyond caring.  
> 3\. in case anyone cares, boxes of tissues were invented in the 1920s. i've learned a lot through writing this.  
> 4\. the 'remember the ladies' thing wasn't really used for the intention i'm using it for, but i'm taking creative liberties.  
> 5\. Abby Adams did NOT like Hamilton. Here's the link to some letter she wrote about him. It's kind of amazing. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17970128aa&rec=sheet&archive=&hi=&numRecs=&query=&queryid=&start=&tag=&num=10&bc=  
> 6\. Lafayette was 5'11 and Burr was either 5'7 or 5'6, depending on what source you go with. I've never been able to find Eliza's height, but I've decided to stick her at around 5'5 or 5'4. Abby adams was 5'1.   
> 7\. The New-York Evening Post was Hamilton's irl newspaper. I read in some book that he used it to write complaints under false names about Jefferson and Madison. What an icon.  
> 8\. I'm going to Florida next week, so who knows when the next chapter will be up. It's just going to happen when it happens.  
> 9\. Thank you all so much for reading! Happy halloween!


	14. Chapter 14

Angelica had been running late all morning, ever since she slept through her alarm and failed to awake until Eliza knocked on her door, asking if she was alright. 

Really the whole reason for her being so tired, although she would deny it to the end of the world, was how late Maria had stayed the night before. Angelica was worried about her, worried about her being stuck with Reynolds, and worried that she wouldn’t say anything if things got worse. So she hardly wanted her to go, but the late nights and early mornings were killing her. 

But there was no way she was going to say anything, so Angelica just slept late, rushed through a shower, quickly got dressed, and left her hair as-is. She was going to skip breakfast, but Peggy handed her a piece of toast right before she left. 

“I need to talk to you,” Peggy said, watching as Angelica ate her toast. “It’s important. Mostly.”

Angelica swallowed. “Shouldn’t you be at school?” 

Peggy shook her head. “Nope! Partial day today for conferences. I don’t need to be in for another hour, so don’t try to avoid me.”

“I’m not trying to avoid you,” Angelica said tiredly. “I’m just trying to keep everything running smoothly. I don’t want you to have to move back in with relatives.” 

Another thing that was stressing her out. When their parents had first died, Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy had been endlessly sent back and forth between different relatives. It was not until Angelica was eighteen that she was allowed to take Eliza and Peggy to live with her, under very strict warning that at the slightest screw up they would be sent back. 

Angelica was more busy than ever, and she felt guilty. She had been there the entire time Eliza was growing up, but now she had a job. She could not be there for Peggy the same way, and she was terrified of failing her. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Peggy said, brushing it off even though Angelica could tell the thought made her uncomfortable. “Anyway, can I please talk to you?” She drug out ‘please’ for twice as many beats as it actually needed. 

Angelica glanced at the clock. “Go ahead.”

“I want to help.”

She sighed. “Peggy, come on. Don’t do this.” 

“What?” Peggy said, mildly affronted. “Eliza gets to be a part of this and she’s hardly three years older than me. Besides, I can help.”

“Eliza works for Alexander too,” Angelica tried to explain. “She’s automatically a part of this. And I don’t trust Revere - hell, I hardly trust Jefferson - so I want to try my best to keep him as far out of our business as possible.”

“But if you and Eliza are already doing stuff with him, what difference does it make if I am too?”

“It’s not just that.” Angelica heard Eliza come down the stairs behind her. “Peggy, I want you to be able to focus on your education, not get dragged into this political mess with the rest of us. So don’t do this.”

Peggy scowled at her. “You let Eliza get away with so much more than me. It’s not fair!” She reached for her school bag and turned to the door. “I’m going to a friend’s house. See you after school.” And she left, slamming the door behind her. 

Angelica felt tears biting at her eyes, but refused to let them fall. She did not cry. Whatever happened, Angelica Schuyler did not cry. 

Eliza crept closer, putting one hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” 

Angelica nodded, wiping her eyes regardless. “I just want her to be safe. I don’t want to lose her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Eliza tried to reassure her. “Peggy is always mad about something. Last night she was mad at me for using her purple marker. She always gets over it though.” 

“Do you think she has a point though?” Angelica asked. “Did I let you get away with more?”

Eliza laughed, quickly covering her mouth. “Angie, I was a nervous wreck all through high school. I would rather have stayed out of every bit of this.” She checked the orange watch she had strapped around her wrist. “It’s getting late, so here’s what we can do. If Peggy is still upset tonight, which I highly doubt she will be, I’ll talk to her. ‘Kay?” 

Surprisingly calmer, Angelica agreed. “What would I ever do without you, Eliza?”

She grinned. “Probably be considerably worse off.” She ducked into the kitchen and returned a half second later, lacing up her combat boots while hoping awkwardly on one foot. “Shall we go?” 

Alexander had called another meeting, this time apparently with Abby and potentially Burr. The details had been kind of fuzzy when he had called late the night before, but the general point was that they were supposed to establish what facts they had to work with. And that they were all to be in his office by...fifteen minutes ago. 

“Shit!” Angelica pulled on her coat, taking three times to stick her right arm through the sleeve in her rush. “We’ve got to go.” 

“I already called Alex and told him we might end up being a little late,” Eliza said as they left. “He said that’s fine, as long as we’re not too late. Also that he may be late.” 

•

Alexander was, in fact, on time. As were, even more surprisingly, Angelica and Eliza. 

“Hi, good morning, how are you all?” Alexander rambled off over one breath, pulling Eliza into a really fast hug. 

Angelica raised her eyebrows, and over Alexander’s shoulder, Eliza shook her head, scowling slightly at her sister’s disbelieving look. 

“Okay, the two of you can head into my office,” Alexander said, still speaking at a hundred miles a minute. “I’m going to meet Abby at the front desk. Laf won’t be here; he’s still not feeling well so I told him to stay home. See you in a few minutes.” And then he was gone. 

“How does he have so much energy all the time?” Angelica asked, not so much expecting an actual answer.

Eliza gave her one regardless. “He drinks too much coffee.” Both girls stepped into the office. “Oh, hello?”

Angelica looked up, momentarily baffled, but then quickly saw the same thing as Eliza. To be fair, she was then still fairly confused. “Sybil? What are you doing here?” 

Sybil looked at Angelica, something nearly a smile brushing across her lips. “Your friend - Alexander - he asked me if I would come. He told me about what you want to do,” For a second she looked as if she might cry. “Thank you so, so much.”

“It’s...uh...a group effort,” Angelica said awkwardly. “You’re welcome, though.” She pulled Eliza, who had drifted way off to look at a painting, closer. “This is my sister, Eliza. Eliza, this is Sybil.” 

Eliza gave her a friendly wave. “It’s really great to finally get to meet you! I’ve been working with Angelica and Alex on this too. Have you been here long?”

“No, only a few-”

Suddenly, Alexander burst in. “Oh my God, I knew I was forgetting something. Sybil is here.”” 

“We noticed,” Eliza teased, giving Alexander a look that Angelica was definitely going to have to remember to bring up later. “Is Abby Adams here yet?” 

Alexander nodded, stepping aside to reveal the woman in question. “In the flesh.” 

Abby nodded to Eliza and the Sybil. “Ms Schuyler. Ms Luddington.” She looked at Angelica. “And…?”

“This is my sister,” Eliza said. “Angelica.”

Abby’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Angelica! I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” She shook her hand, and Angelica’s brain basically shut down. Holy shit, she was shaking Abigail Adams’ hand and they were about to start working together on a project. Just...holy shit. 

“Okay, everyone minus Lafayette is here,” Alexander said, sitting down at his desk while everyone else took different seats around the room. “So I guess we might as well get started.”

“Lafayette, he came to talk to me yesterday, correct?” Abby said, seeming slightly confused. “Is there a reason we are not waiting for him?” 

“He’s sick; I’ll fill him in later,” Alexander said quickly, obviously already at least three steps ahead of everyone else in the room. “Abby, when I spoke to you this morning, you said you had some information, right?”

She nodded, looking almost offended at Alexander speaking to her directly. Angelica was suddenly reminded of the night before, when he had mentioned exactly how much Abby disliked him. “Yes, I have a few things of my own, as well as some documents Aaron wished for me to send over. Shall I present to the group?”

“Wait,” Eliza said, “Burr agreed?”

“Jesus, did I forget that too?” Alexander said, although Angelica got the feeling that he had been excitedly waiting to present this information ever since the two of them showed up. “Burr called me really early this morning. Like, really early. I don’t know why on Earth he was working that early. I mean, I was at work that early but I run this place so I feel like that’s more justified.”

“Alexander.”

“Right, sorry,” He grinned sheepishly at Eliza. “Anyway he called me and he told me that his wife talked him into agreeing. And then of course I made fun of him for that and he threatened to pull out so then I had to apologise - which I hated, by the way - and then he reinstated himself as part of the group literally seconds after joining to begin with. But he said he couldn’t actually come today because he had to work and it would look weird if he, Abby, and Sybil all took off on the same day.” He finally stopped to breathe. It was almost impressive, really, Angelica would argue, that so many words could come out of the mouth of one person in such a short amount of time. 

“Yes, he told me more or less the same,” Abby took over, looking at Alexander as if she was hardly sure what to think of him. “Again, shall I present?”

Alexander gave her the go ahead, and she continued. “Aaron works in scheduling, obviously, so I was able to get from him all of the records for both Paul and Sybil in regards to scheduling meetings and the such,” She pulled out a few papers and spread them out across Alexander’s desk. “As you can see, the original meeting with Jefferson to pitch the idea for the article was done by Sybil. There are no notes saying whether it was done on her own account or for Paul. Sybil, any clarification?”

Sybil looked scared, and Angelica felt bad for the girl. They were basically going to have to put her on trial here. “Hey,” She put a hand on Sybil’s knee and smiled reassuringly. “Everything will be alright. Just tell us the details.”

Sybil smiled weakly back, before speaking to Abby. “It was just for me, yes. Jefferson had told me that he wanted me to try to get some of my own writing published. This was my first shot.”

Abby nodded, writing a note on one of her papers. “John has access to Jefferson’s records. I’ll back that up with him.”

Angelica and Eliza exchanged a look. They really had hit the jackpot when it came to resources. 

“Aaron also looked at when everyone recorded having done research,” Abby gestured to another one of her papers. “ Sybil is recorded as having members of three different local Russian families over two months before Paul seemed to have done anything at all. And even then, I’m...well, I’m not sure what exactly Paul was doing; it’s extremely vague. It just says ‘Russia Research’. That’s going to be hard to check up on. Lastly, Sybil is recorded as having taken a week off to go visit her family in Russia. Paul is not recorded as going on any such trip recently.” 

“Burr sure did a lot of work on this,” Alexander observed, tilting back in his desk chair. “Especially for someone who apparently wasn’t on board until this morning.”

At that, Abby’s super-serious-and-professional mask broke, and she smiled. “Trust me, Burr was on board from the very beginning. There’s just no way he was going to admit that to Lafayette right of the bat. Theodosia just had to make him come to terms with it.

“Anyway, last point he sent me with is not from scheduling, but from filing.” This was her last sheet, and Alexander took it eagerly and began to read it over. “We have a giant filing cabinet where everyone without their own office - or just whomever wants to - can store their documents and the like. All the original documents, or at least the earliest ones he could find, are filed under Sybil’s name. The first one is from a week before the meeting with Jefferson.” 

“Well, shit,” Alexander grinned at Sybil. “It looks like you have a pretty solid case.”

“May I see?” Angelica asked. Abby handed her the papers and she flipped through these. “Can I make a photocopy? These would be really helpful for the article.”

Abby nodded. “Go ahead.” 

Angelica ducked out, Alexander promising that they would wait for her and Eliza promising that she would hold him to that promise. She crossed the room to the photocopier. 

“Hey, Angelica!” Mary, the intern who Angelica had now run into for the third time, was hanging out by the copier with a just slightly taller boy who she was almost certain was named Abe. 

“Oh, hi Mary. Hi Abe.” Angelica smiled. She gestured to the copier. “Are the two of you using this?”

Mary shook her head. “No, we’re just wasting the end of our lunch break. Go ahead.” 

Angelica began to copy the papers, the tiniest bit uncomfortable with both of them watching in complete silence. Eventually, she decided to start up a conversation. 

“So,” She started, pulling out the first paper. “Did things get worked out with Arnold.”

Abe started cracking up, and Mary glared at him. “It’s hardly as funny as Abraham here seems to feel it is. The economics issue got worked out but then Lee - he’s the one who made the initial error to begin with, by the way - felt the need to make some comment about how much of a waste of time going over this with everyone was. This of course only got Arnold even more angry, so we’re all being punished.”

Abe had at that point recovered from his laughing fit enough to add his own comments to the conversation. “We were all thinking it,” He said, laughter still lingering in his voice. “But nobody except Lee was stupid enough to actually say it.” 

“I was about ready to chew him out myself.” Mary said angrily, crossing her arms. For such a tiny woman, she was surprisingly intimidating. Very tough looking, Angelica decided. 

A boy with longish hair somewhere between dirty blond and light brown appeared from around the corner. “Your lunch break is about to end. I’d get back to Arnold before he gets upset.”

“Shit,” Abe mumbled, looking down at his watch. “I was going to go and try to say hi to Robert.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have spent your entire break hanging around the copier,” The boy responded. 

Mary sighed. “Bye, Angelica. See you around.” 

Abe waved, Angelica waved, and then the two of them plus the other boy were gone.

Something about the tiny exchange had bothered her, however. That something, she quickly realised, was Arnold. What was his deal? When she was in highschool, Angelica had had a few bosses that had went out of their way to make her life hell, something she could not understand. Why would you do that to another human being?

Bitterly, she realised that in the past week she had encountered two different men working for two different companies who had a huge similarity; they both treated the people beneath them horribly. 

Her last paper was spit out, and Angelica turned around and went back to Alexander’s office where, as promised, everyone had waited for her. 

“Thank you so much.” Angelica handed the papers back to Abby. “These will be incredibly helpful.” 

Abby smiled. “Of course.” 

Suddenly, Angelica was struck by how surreal this all was. As a young girl - well, youngish girl, really more like high school age - she had read Abby’s work and practically idolised it. That was what had made her want to go into journalism in the first place, and it was sure as hell what had instilled in her her take-no-shit attitude in how she did so. And now she and Abby were sitting in a room together, working on a story. 

With everyone back, Alexander resumed the meeting. “Sybil, are these definitely the notes for that story? You haven’t at any time done anything else involving Russia, either with Revere or on your own?” 

Sybil shook her head. Sometime while Angelica had been gone, Eliza had swapped seats to sit next to Sybil, and Angelica saw her sister squeezed the girl’s hand comfortingly. “We’d never done anything else involving Russia. The first time I ever heard Revere bring up anything of the sort was right before he published this -my- article.”

“Sybil, if you don’t mind, I would love to talk more to you tomorrow,” Angelica said once she had finished. “We can do a proper follow up interview.”

“Yes, that would be nice.” Sybil said, shooting a shy smile at Angelica. “Thank you.”

“If that’s all, I suppose we can wrap up.” Alexander said, tipping back in his desk chair.

“Wait!” Abby said quickly. All eyes were instantly back on her. She had put away her papers and was sitting perfectly straight, legs crossed and red skirt falling perfectly across her knees. Everything Angelica had always wanted to be. “One more thing. I think Jefferson knows.”

Alexander leaned further back, to the point that Angelica almost wanted to tell him to fix it. “Elaborate. I’m all for screwing over Jefferson, but we need proof.” 

“For one thing, the meeting,” Abby explained. “Thomas takes meticulous notes of all his meetings, well technically Madison does, but the point is Thomas memorizes everyone who goes into or out of his office. And he knows every article that is published under his business. There is no way he would not make the connection.”

“That,” Alexander put all of his chair back on the ground and put his fingers together, looking very much like a supervillain. “Is an excellent point. If only we could get evidence…”

Abby shrugged. “I’ll keep my eye out and talk to John. I don’t know if we’ll actually find anything, but I thought it could be interesting to address.” She turned to Angelica. “Of course, only if that’s okay with you.”

Angelica considered. She honestly did not want to mess with Jefferson anymore than she already did. He knew about her, didn’t he? But...at the same time, she wanted justice for Sybil. Full, proper justice. “Go ahead. And telephone me if you find anything.” She scribbled down her phone number on a sheet of paper and handed it to Abby, who pocketed it. 

“Anyone else have anything to say?” When nobody said anything, Alexander stood up. “In that case, I guess we’re done. Abby, Sybil, I’ll walk you to the door.” 

Goodbyes were exchanged and Alexander had just stepped out the door when the telephone on his desk rang. 

“Sorry, I’ll tell whoever it is that I’m busy.” He said, doubling back to pick it up. “Hello, Alexander Hamilton’s office.” He paused. “Um, okay. I’ll tell them.” He held the phone away from his mouth, and turned to Angelica and Eliza. He looked extremely confused. “Um, that was Burr. He said Peggy is in Jefferson’s office.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are back!! From this point onwards, updates should continue at their normal pace.   
> However, I have stumbled upon an issue. Somehow, I managed to write chapter fourteen into chapter thirteen. I don't know if anyone noticed, but this chapter technically should have been in Alexander's point of view, but instead was in Angelica's. He had this whole excursion at Jefferson's office to try to talk Burr and Abby into joining. I of course didn't realise that I was missing an entire chapter until Thurday night, by which point I was well over two thousand words into this thing. So yeah, I'm a mess and trying to work things out. But next chapter will be in Eliza's pov and it'll just loop around at that point normally.  
> Anyway, onto actual notes.  
> 1\. In a chapter I intentionally cut, Theodosia showed up and talked Burr into things. I LOVE Theo Burr, she is a badass, you all should totally look her up.  
> 3\. The Lee who screwed things over for the Interns Gang is Charles Lee, in case that wasn't obvious. I love him, but he's a mess.   
> 4\. My fav random piece of knowledge about Lee is that John wasn't the first person to try to duel him, he was just the first person who nobody got to to stop in time. I know Steuben, for example, challenged him but got talked out of it.  
> 5\. Speaking of random knowledge, I found out how tall Eliza was! She was 5'3. Same as me, which is fun.   
> 6\. The kid who showed up to tell Mary and Abe they had to go back to work was my boy Ben Tallmadge. I have no idea what colour his hair was in real life, and I have even less of an idea of what colour it was in Turn. Is that blond? Light brown? Neither? The world may never know.  
> 7\. Thanks so much for reading, kudosing, and to the two people who commented last chapter!! Have a lovely week!!


	15. Chapter 15

Eliza had not seen Angelica look so terrified in years. Abby was trying to calm her down, but her efforts hardly seemed to be working.

“Everything will be alright,” She said softly, resting a hand on Angelica’s shoulder. “Thomas wouldn’t let anything happen to a child in his own office building. He’d rather die than have to deal with that.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about; I know Jefferson isn’t that dangerous,” Angelica paced around Alexander’s office, fingers becoming hopelessly entangled in her hair. “It’s that he knows Peggy and he knows she’s my sister. What if he starts talking to her and she accidentally lets something slip?” 

“Peggy wouldn’t tell him anything.” Eliza reassured her, trying to sound a lot more certain than she actually felt. Peggy was extremely intelligent, but she had a bad habit of speaking carelessly. “And Burr is there,” She added. “I can’t imagine he would let anything go too far.”

Abby agreed. “His neck is as much on the line as the rest of ours; he wouldn’t want to be discovered.”

“Oh, are we talking about Burr?” Alexander said, popping into the room. He flashed a smile at Eliza and she did not blush. At least that was what she told herself. “Yeah, he’ll do anything to save his own ass. Don’t worry. Anyway,” He waved somebody into the room. “This is Ben; he’ll be in charge while we go off on this rescue mission. Say ‘hi’, Ben.” 

Ben did not say hi, but he waved, which Alexander seemed pleased enough with. 

“I’ll take my own taxi and go ahead of you all,” Abby said, standing up and putting on her long, black coat which had previously been draped over the back of the couch. “Sybil, would you like to ride with me?”

Sybil nodded, stumbling to grab her own coat. Eliza saw her pull Angelica aside to whisper a few things which could not be heard from far away, then she and Abby left together. 

Angelica went to Eliza’s side, chewing on her lip. “Alexander, can we please get going?”

“Just a second,” Alexander said, digging around in his filing cabinet. “I just need to find my schedule to give to Ben so he can cancel it.”

 

Eliza leaned over the top of Alexander’s desk, quickly spotting a colour coded sheet with times and dates. “Is this it?”

He quickly rushed over. “Yes, that would be it. Thank you so much; you are a blessing.” 

Again, Eliza told herself she was not blushing. It was just a little hot was all. Because all of her feelings were completely professional and it had never even occurred to her to think that they could possibly be otherwise. Of course.

They hurried outside, with Alexander quickly waving at James on their way past the front desk. “Okay, Abby and Sybil are gone, so at least we’ll be arriving separately.” He said, standing on the balls of his feet to try to look for a cab. “Ah, there one is.”

A cab pulled up the their curb, and Angelica got into the front seat and Eliza and Alexander into the back. As Angelica told the driver where they were going, Alexander dropped his voice down to whisper to Eliza. 

“Are you doing okay? I imagine this has gotta be stressful for you too.”

Eliza took a long, slow breath. “I’m fine. Peggy is smart. I trust her.”

“And Angelica doesn’t?” He asked quizzically.

“No, she does,” Eliza said quickly. “It’s just that...Angelica feels a lot of responsibility for us. If anything happens, I know she would never stop thinking that it was her fault.”

Alexander nodded, seeming to be suddenly deep in thought. “I...I get that.”

Eliza clasped her hands in her lap, falling into silence as Alexander picked up a conversation with Angelica, who chatted nervously. 

As they got closer, Alexander skillfully maneuvered the conversation to again include Eliza. “So here’s what we’re going to do,” He said, glancing at the cab driver, who suddenly seemed extremely interested in their conversation. “The two of you are going to go talk to Burr. I’m going to duck past his desk and hang around, watching for Jefferson or Madison or whomever. It’s not terribly out of character for me to show up to bother them, so I imagine that nobody will think much of it. That way, I can warn you guys to get out if needed.” 

Angelica nodded, looking very determined. “Is it fine if we all go in together?”

Alexander nodded. “Burr’s generally the only one lingering around up front. Besides, I imagine that Abby is smart enough to get anyone else there out.”

Angelica took a deep breath as the taxi pulled up in front of their destination. “Let’s go.”

•

They entered, and Burr was the only one sitting at the front desk. Eliza saw the smile that quickly flashed across Alexander’s lips, which he quickly replaced with a fully serious expression. “Burr.”

“Alexander,” Burr responded, tone equal parts cold and professional. “How may I be of assistance?” 

That was when Alexander got angry. “Burr, you know damn well-”

Eliza cut him off, grabbing Alexander’s arm and willing him to just calm down. “Mr. Burr, please. We just want to pick up Peggy and stop bothering you.”

Burr closed his eyes for a few seconds, mouthing something about how Alexander would never stop bothering him. “She’s in the conference room, second door down on the right. Hurry up.” 

Angelica and Eliza hurried down the hallway, as Alexander stayed and pestered Burr. 

“Oh, Hi!” Peggy said cheerfully as they burst into the room. She was sitting in a spinny chair at the head of a long table, upon which she had thrown her school backpack and coat. “Have you guys seen the chairs in this place? Literally every single one of them spins. It’s amazing. Alexander should really get some of theses.”

Angelica made a noise that could have been a laugh. “Jesus Christ, Peggy. Why?”

Peggy at least looked a little guilty. “I was trying to help.” She glanced at Eliza. “Is everything okay?”

“We were just worried,” Eliza said, immediately falling into peacemaking mode. “We didn’t want you getting into the middle of-” She made a vague gesture- “All of this.”

Peggy smirked. “Then does this mean you don’t want to hear the information I’ve got on Jefferson and that Revere guy?”

That got both of their attention. “I’m sorry, what?” Angelica said carefully. 

“Okay, so it’s actually such a fun story-”

Alexander’s voice suddenly rose over top of Peggy’s, unnaturally loud. “Oh, hello Jefferson. What a surprise, seeing you here.”

“Shit,” Angelica muttered, glancing at the door to make sure it was closed. “Okay, this could be a problem.”

Eliza twirled her hair around her finger, listening to Alexander and Jefferson. “They sound like they’re up by the front door. Shall we risk it and try to find a back exit?” 

Angelica shook her head. “Absolutely not. We’re staying here.”

The door creaked open, causing all three girls to jump. 

Luckily, it was only Burr. “There’s a door that lets out along the side of the building,” He said, voice low. “ I’ll unlock it and let you out.”

Peggy waved. “Hi, Aaron.”

His mouth turned into a perfectly straight line. “Please, come with me.”

As they left, Eliza glanced back behind her to where Alexander was still pestering Jefferson. She could see his back, slouched and leaning against the front desk with a false air of casualness. She bit her lip. It felt wrong, leaving him up there. But what could they do? Jefferson would ask way more questions about she, Angelica, or Peggy than he would Alexander. 

“Eliza, are you coming?” Burr asked, giving her a look as if he could read every thought passing through her mind. 

“Right, sorry.” She said quickly, hurrying to catch up with her sisters. 

•

They went directly home, Alexander calling twenty minutes later from his office to say that he had made it back too. Crisis averted, the three Schuyler sisters found themselves sitting around the kitchen table, all eyes on Peggy. 

“You said you have information?” Angelica prodded after a few seconds of silence. She winced. “Sorry, that really makes this sound like an interrogation.”

“That it does,” Peggy agreed. “Don’t worry about it too much though.” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a few crumpled up pieces of paper. “Do you remember Cicero? He’s in my biology class and we had a lab together awhile back?”

Angelica looked to Eliza, memory obviously completely blank. Eliza, however, nodded. “I remember him. He’s sweet.” 

“He is,” Peggy agreed. “He’s also super resourceful. I was talking to him and I kinda ended up mentioning Sybil - oh, don’t look at me like that Angie; he’s super trustworthy - and it turns out his mom works for Jefferson. Can you believe it? Anyway he said that she works in Human Resources and he remembered one time she mentioned somebody filing multiple complaints about someone stealing their work.

“Anyway so he couldn’t remember the name, but he said he could check after school and I agreed to meet him there. I figured this was time critical, you know? So I met him there, and he found the complaints, and it turned out that they were from Sybil, and all of them were about Revere. And - get this - the reason he never got investigated was that Jefferson had them pulled. But Cicero’s mom kept them around regardless, so we took them and made photocopies.

“That’s when Burr found us,” She finished with a huff. “He sent Cicero home and then sent me to the conference room so that he could call Alex.” 

Angelica had picked up the photocopies, a look of wonder across her face as she read over them. “Oh my gosh Peggy, this is amazing!” 

Peggy grinned. “My specialty. Does this mean you’ve forgiven me for scaring you?” 

“I suppose it must.” Angelica handed Eliza the photocopies, which she herself read over. 

She could not help the small leap in her heart as she read the contents. This was quite damning. She knew that Alexander had been trying to get something on Jefferson for forever and that Angelica had needed new evidence for her story; this had to be thrilling for both of them. Everything was there from Sybil’s signature on the complaints to Jefferson’s signature to have them removed. 

The conversation had continued on without Eliza’s notice until Angelica said her name. 

“Eliza, can you take these down to Alexander?” She asked “I imagine he wants to see them.”

Eliza nodded. She jumped up to go call him, dialing his less-familiar work number.

It rang twice and then he answered. “This is Hamilton, how may I help you?” 

“Hi, Alex; it’s Eliza.”

He sounded instantly more delighted. “Betsey! I’ve only just gotten off the line with you. To what do I owe this correspondence?”

She giggled at his hyper-courteous tone. “I actually have some stuff to show you. Can I come down?”

“Of course,” Alexander said. “Can I expect you in half an hour?”

“Half an hour…” Eliza glanced at the clock, and then at Angelica, who nodded. “Twenty minutes.”

“Great. See you then.” The phone clicked, and he was gone. 

•

Alexander was in his office. “Good afternoon, Betsey.” He said, smiling, when she opened the door.

“Hi, Alex,” She said, closing it behind her. 

“You just missed Lafayette,” He told her, gesturing to his chair for her to sit down. “He said to tell everyone hello the next time I see them, so, hello from Lafayette.”

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Eliza asked curiously.

Alexander shrugged. “Hopefully soon. Pretty sure he would be back by now if not for the fact that I keep sending him home. Keeps calling me a hypocrite too. Just because I nearly died or something from working the entire time I had pneumonia.”

“That’s...unhealthy.”

“Completely besides the point, Eliza.” He grinned. “Anyway, you said you’ve got something for me? That Peggy found?”

Eliza took the photocopies out of her pocket, smoothing out their wrinkles before sliding them across the desk to Alexander. “Here. She got these from Jefferson’s Human Resources sect.”

Alexander read them over, a huge smile growing across his face. “Holy shit.” He jumped up, going around the side of the desk to pull Eliza into a hug. “Holy shit!”

“Does this mean you’re happy?” Eliza whispered, face pressed up against his shoulder. 

“Elizabeth Schuyler, I don’t think I have ever been this happy in my life.” He spun her around, and Eliza felt a laugh slip through her lips. This was nice. 

Alexander stopped, but neither of them moved and Eliza was suddenly so intensely aware of how close they were. Alexander’s eyes were right in front of hers, and for some weird reason she thought that maybe they were purple. But that was ridiculous. People could not have purple eyes, could they? Sure, Eliza had never been the most amazing at biology, but she was almost certain that at some point it had been addressed that there was no possible way that one's genetics could align in a way that would have resulted in somebody having purple eyes. 

“Eliza,” Alexander said quietly. “You look like you’re a billion light years away.”

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” She whispered back. “You have really nice eyes.”

Alexander laughed, a puff of warm air that Eliza could feel against the top of her head. “Thanks.”

They were quiet for a few seconds, before Alexander shifted, leaning down slightly so that he and Eliza could better make eye contact. “Can I kiss you?”

Eliza thought it over. She thought of the obnoxious child she had met at a high school debate team meeting. She thought of him at her house talking to Angelica, the night that this whole thing was born. She thought of the day he had happened upon her in the park, the day she had met Lafayette and John. She thought of the party, and she thought of afterwards when John left. She thought of Alexander pulling her into the closet and then giving her her own desk. She thought of the meeting that changed everything, and every conversation they had afterwards.

She thought of all of this, and she said yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> 1\. The cab driver. It was Hercules Mulligan. Unimportant, but it's him. And he's a horrible spy.  
> 2\. More Turn references! Cicero is my boy. And he really wants to be involved.   
> 3\. Please tell me you have all heard the thing about Alexander Hamilton and the purple eye thing. How can that happen??? He doesn't even sound like a real person.  
> 4\. Yall better appretiate my ghost quartet reference.  
> 5\. sorry if this is all getting a little incoherent, I'm sick and suuuuuper tired. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading/commenting/kudosing/etc!!!!


	16. Chapter 16

Alexander had not seen Eliza since. She had politely left afterwards, saying that she wanted to get home before it got dark. That was two days ago, and since then they had not spoken. Which was totally alright, of course. They both had jobs to do, and Alexander really did not very often venture into the part of the office in which she worked. And to be fair, Alexander hadn’t seen much of any of the Schuyler girls as of late. Angelica had stepped in for a few seconds to run part of her outline by him the day before, but that was it. 

It was not a big deal. It was just that...they were friends. Telephoning Eliza had slowly turned into one of the biggest things he looked forward to. And Alexander sure as hell did not want to ruin that over some stupid impulse. 

It was totally fine if she regretted it. Alexander had kissed more than his fair share of people that he ended up regretting. There was Lafayette, Andre, Madison… Actually, he didn’t regret Andre. But anyway, if Eliza regretted kissing him, that was fine. He just wished she would tell him so that they could move past it. 

Alexander sighed, kicking his feet up onto his desk and imagining the distressed sound Lafayette would make at the loud crack his heels made upon hitting the wood. It was Saturday, “so as usual the office was half empty, the only people left being those in the printing section and anyone who had not had the foresight to get all of their work done during the week. Hypothetically, Alexander could have left whenever he pleased and just put somebody else temporarily in charge, but he prefered hanging around and making sure that everything ran smoothly. The paper was his responsibility, after all. 

His desk phone rang, and instantly he swung his feet back down to the floor and sat up properly, reaching for the phone. “This is Alexander Hamilton, what can I do for you?” 

“Hello, Hamilton.”

He rolled his eyes as far back as they would go. “Jefferson. Why are you calling me?” 

“We need to talk.”

Hamilton could practically see Jefferson sitting leaned back in his ugly swivel chair, equally ugly and even more pretentious calligraphy pen stuck between two of his fingers. So annoying. “I’m sorry, but what could we possibly need to talk about?”

“Why exactly you were in my office yesterday. I know you, and you would not skip out of your own job just to come harass my employees.”

“I would for Burr. Or you.”

He paused, and Alexander could here his long exhale. “Just meet me at that coffee place down by my building. What time do you get off?”

Alexander glanced out his propped open door. Only three people were left, and one of them was Lafayette. He bit his lip. Could he truly, within good conscience, leave his office under the care of Lafayette for something as...ridiculous as talking to Jefferson? But still, he needed to lay whatever suspicions the man still harbored to rest. Mostly for Angelica’s sake. “Meet me in twenty minutes.” He finally said. “If you’re even a second late, I'm leaving.”

•

Lafayette had been more than happy to keep an eye on things while Alexander was gone. Especially when he found out that Alexander was going to see Jefferson. Lafayette’s unending fondness for that man was something he had never been able to understand.

“Lafayette says hello.” Alexander said, sliding into the booth across from Jefferson, who had a tea cup and a bagel sitting in front of him. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

Jefferson scowled for a second, before forcing his expression into something more neutral. “I have no idea who you could possibly be referring to.”

“Short guy, kind of quiet, looks like he hasn’t slept in months? Or did the two of you break up?”

Jefferson took a slow sip of his tea. “If you must know, James is going to see a musical with Dolley.” And much quieter. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

Alexander let the second part go, choosing only to focus on the first. “What are they going to see?”

Jefferson looked at him suspiciously like maybe he thought it was a trick. “Pirates of Penzance.”

Alexander nodded approvingly. “Fair choice. I saw it last month.” He stared as Jefferson ate his bagel. “Are those chocolate chips?”

“No, raisins.”

“That’s disgusting.” 

“Jesus Christ, Hamilton, can you pretend to not be a total ass for even one conversation?”

Alexander slumped in his chair. Admittedly, he enjoyed annoying the shit out of Jefferson. It was just so easy. The dude couldn’t public speak to save his life, he talked about things like the barometric pressure, and had a super obvious crush on his co-worker. Literally his entire personality and/or existence was just pure ammunition. “Fine. What do you want?”

Jefferson clasped his hands together, a motion that made him look much more innocent than Alexander knew him to be. “I want to know what you were doing in my office.”

Alexander was not going to give Jefferson the satisfaction of seeing him crack. So he spoke evenly and calmly, not giving anything away. “As I told you in person and on the phone, I was bored and I went over to annoy either you or Burr.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Alexander resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Why on Earth not? This isn’t even the first time I’ve done it.”

“Yes,” Jefferson said. “You have done it before. But things have changed, Hamilton. I hate to admit this-” He winced “I hate it so so much, but you’ve matured. Relatively speaking, anyway.”

Alexander gave him a dirty look. “I most definitely have not.”

Jefferson sighed. “Only you would take that as an insult. Seriously though, Hamilton. Having you in charge of my company would literally be my worst nightmare, but I think you’ve done a decent job of managing your own. I know we haven’t exactly been talking, but word does get around. And I can’t imagine you coming over during the work day just to harass my employees.”

There was nothing Alexander hated more than when Jefferson was right, but in this case, he was. Alexander knew he had become more responsible over the past few weeks. It was simple logic. He was put into a position with both greater authority and responsibility and then immediately went through a huge number of major life changes, both personal and professional. That basically assured that he had to change some crucial aspect of his personality as well. In this case, his ridiculous level of irresponsibility and complete inability to not be overly confrontational. But he could hardly let Jefferson know that. For Angelica’s sake. 

So Alexander leaned back, put his feet on the side of Jefferson’s chair where there was no way he could not feel them, and raised an eyebrow. “Sorry Jeffery, I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I’m sure if you actually spoke to Burr rather than just making assumptions hardly based in reality, he would enlighten you as to what exactly transcribed between us. Which is exactly what I have now told you on three separate occasions.” 

Jefferson moved his leg so that Alexander’s shoes were not touching his undoubtedly very expensive pants. “Alexander, I’m afraid I’ll never understand you.”

Alexander scowled. “We’ve never been friends. Don’t speak to me as if we are.”

Jefferson made a frustrated noise, running his fingers through his hair, which just made it stick up almost comically. “Hamilton, then. And why on Earth not? You had to respect me at least a little in the beginning.”

He actually had, at first. Jefferson was ambitious and had extremely firm principles. Both were things to be admired. However, his personality and the fact that most of those principles were things Alexander far from agreed with ruined any nicer feelings he had ever harboured towards the man. As far as Jefferson would ever be aware though, none of those feelings feelings had ever existed. “I don’t remember ever having any respect for you, actually. Sorry to disappoint.”

He expected Jefferson to be annoyed, but instead he just looked tired and vaguely overwhelmed with the whole conversation. “I just wanted to know what you were actually doing. I think you owe me that.”

Alexander knew that he should have kept his mouth shut, but it was just so easy. “I don’t owe you anything.” He said, voice low. “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re like. And trust me, there is nothing I look forward to more than when that information gets out.” 

Jefferson froze, face still emotionless. 

Alexander felt bad for a fraction of a second, thinking of how disappointed Lafayette or, hell, even Eliza, would be in him. Then he remembered, this was Jefferson. His enemy. The worst person he knew, save Revere. “Anyway, see you around. I suppose.” And he left. 

•

Illogically impulsive (was that not what had gotten him into this mess in the first place?), Alexander found himself on the Schuylers’ front porch, hand raised to knock on the door. 

Peggy opened it. “Alexander!” She said, surprised. “Hi!”

“Hi, Peggy.” He glanced at her flowy yellow dress and the way her dark hair was elegantly piled atop her head. “What’s the special occasion?”

She spun, practically beaming. “There’s a school dance tonight. Stephen is supposed to be picking me up any minute now. I thought you were him, actually.”

Alexander laughed. “Sorry to disappoint. You look pretty though.”

Peggy smiled. “Thanks. And not to come across as rude, but what are you doing here?” 

Alexander shifted his weight. “I was hoping I could talk to Eliza. If she’s here.”

“She’s upstairs.” Peggy told him. “If you come in, I’ll tell her you’re here.”

“Are you sure that’s alright?” Alexander asked anxiously. He really did not want to intrude. If Eliza had told her sisters anything about being upset with him, he didn’t want to make things worse.

Peggy gave him a strange look. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Evidently she had said nothing. “Nevermind.” Alexander quickly amended. “Thanks.”

Peggy quickly ran up the stairs, returning a few seconds later. “She’s in her room and said just to go up. Second door on the left. If you open the door and don’t see purple walls, it’s not the right room.” Suddenly the doorbell rang and Peggy ran over to see who it was. “Stephen!” She squealed, wrapping her arms around a tall man, equally nicely dressed. 

Alexander smiled to himself, electing not to disturb them and instead just going upstairs. Second door on the right, and he found the purple walls.

Eliza was sitting on her bed, butterfly style, her attention captured by a book. 

“Eliza?” Alexander said softly, not wanting to scare her. 

Still, she startled. But quickly, her surprised look changed to her usual kind smile. “Hi, Alexander,” She said, shutting her book. “How are you?”

At the same time, Alexander burst out, “I’m so sorry.”

Eliza paused. “What on Earth for?”

“What happened the other day.” He said. “I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable or if you regretted it or anything. I wasn’t thinking and just...I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Eliza tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t regret it.”

Alexander froze. “What?”

She sighed. “Here, come sit.” He sat down where she gestured on the bed in front of her, and she reached out and took his hands in her own softer, smaller hands. “Alex, I didn’t regret kissing you. But…” She hesitated, looking uncertain for the first time since he had shown up. “I’ve never been in a real relationship before. If this is something-” She gestured between the two of them. “-I want it to be an actual relationship. So I need to ask you something serious.”

Alexander nodded, ignoring the anxiety burning in his chest. “Shoot.”

Eliza bit her lip. “Is it just because John is gone? Am I just his replacement?”

Alexander had considered the same question over and over again. Was the only reason he was attracted to Eliza that he needed somebody to fill the place left by John? But he remembered the story Martha had told him, that night when he felt so broken and empty. She had found his father after the person she loved had left her. But still, she so clearly loved him too, with every bit of her heart. Why should any feelings he had for Eliza be dimmed by the fact that he had loved (still loved?) John too?

Alexander squeezed her hands. “Eliza, I like you. A lot. And I don’t think that anyone else has anything to do with that. So if you’re okay with it, I’d love to try a real relationship.”

She nodded, still very serious. Then a smile cracked around the edges, and Alexander felt so warm. “I would love that too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the huge delay in update (I honestly don't even know how long it's been? Too long.). I've been so busy lately. And I wanted to get the final chapter of Veronica's House perfect, and somehow that ended up taking me like two weeks. But here we are! And I'm quite happy with this chapter. It was fun writing Ham and Jeff together. And I feel like we see a lot of Ham from Eliza's POV, but not so much her from Ham's, so that was a fun change.  
> Anyway some notes!:  
> 1\. I originally wasn't going to make Hamilton such an asshole to Jefferson, but I feel like that was kind of needed considering he could be really...awful to people. I mean, have you guys seen the secret letter about Burr? Dude could talk shit. Idk, it felt like a better choice for his character.   
> 2\. Let's briefly address here that I said that Ham kissed Mads, and then never speak of it again.  
> 3\. On that note, if you guys haven't seen some of Jefferson's letters to Madison, y'all are missing out. Jeff lowkey having a crush on him was totally inspired by those. That's also where the barrometric pressure comment comes from.  
> 4\. Pirates of Penzance was on bway earlier than I've based most of this one, but I don't care because I love it.   
> 5\. The thing about Ham at one point respecting Jeff was inspired by my APUSH hw. There was this quote from him that was more or less "Yeah so Jeffery used to be cool but now he totally sucks lol"  
> 6\. In this chapter, we got to meet Stephen van Rensselaer III!!! Peggy's future husband.   
> 7\. On that note, if I remember correctly, Maria will be returning next chapter.  
> 8\. a bonus scene:  
> Alex: So, you said you've never been in a real relationship before.  
> Eliza: Yes?  
> Alex: And that implies that you've been in some kind of relationship you wouldn't consider real.  
> Eliza: If you must know, I kissed John Andre in the seventh grade.  
> Alex: Really? I kissed Andre in ninth grade.  
> Eliza: ...  
> Alex: ...  
> Eliza: ...  
> Alex: He's hot, isn't he?  
> 9\. As always, thank you so much to everyone who's read, kudosed, commented, etc! See you all in two weeks.


	17. Chapter 17

It wasn’t that Angelica had never been published before. No, she had on a number of occasions with her past jobs. All silly, frivolous things that had needed as much skill to write as they needed energy to read. Which is to say, not much. But this was her first time writing something that actually mattered. And that was where her anxiety came from.

She had been jumpy all morning, acting ridiculous at even the slightest stresser. When she saw that it was raining and that she would have to take the bus to work rather than walking, she just about burst into tears. And that was still where she was mentally when she boarded the bus, yellow folder with her article in it hugged to her chest. 

Most of the seats were full, but she managed to grab one right behind the driver. 

Technically, her deadline was not until two days later. But she had finished it the night before and was worried that the longer they waited the more time there was for things to go wrong. Especially after Alexander had mentioned to Eliza about how Jefferson kept asking question. 

Angelica smiled to herself. She was happy for her sister. Eliza deserved the world and she clearly really liked Alexander. Not that she would not kill the man if he hurt her. Regardless of the fact that he was her boss. 

She was still lost in thought when a voice interrupted. 

“Excuse me, may I sit here?” 

Angelica looked up, accidentally making direct contact with the bluest pair of eyes she had seen in her entire life. Holy shit. She liked strictly women, but...wow. “Um, of course.” She said quickly, trying to make up for the awkward pause where she completely blanked out. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” The man said, his remarkably elegant accent becoming more apparent. “And thank you.”

“No problem.” Angelica glanced out the window, noticing that the rain had begun coming down harder. 

The man seemed to notice the same thing. “I can’t believe this weather,” He said conversationally. “I flew in last night from London expecting sunny skies, but it appears the clouds have just followed me.”

“It’s been bad.” Angelica agreed. “I’m just hoping that the rain clears up so that I can walk tomorrow.”

The man smiled, holding out a hand which she took to shake. “I’m John.”

“Angelica. Nice to meet you.” 

“So, Angelica. Do you know anywhere a tourist who planned on engaging in multiple outdoor activities could spend his day instead?”

Angelica cracked a smile at that. “Personally? I’d recommend the Met. My sister dragged me there for our entire childhood, so I may be biased, but it’s lovely. The entire building is pretty enough to be an art piece. But really, any museum could be enjoyable.”

John nodded, taking her seriously to the point that it was almost comical. “That is a good idea. I was considering just taking various bus tours until my dinner appointment tonight, but your suggestion seems much better.”

“It is.” Angelica confirmed. “Trust me, I’ve done a few bus tours. Any museum is better.” 

John reached down to pick up his briefcase as the bus pulled its next stop. “Well, this is mine. Nice to meet you, Angelica.”

“You too. Have fun at the Met.”

And he was gone, and Angelica was left alone until the next stop, hers. 

She got off the bus as a very tall, very red haired man stepped out of a cab and put up an umbrella. 

“Lafayette?” 

He turned around, looking surprised but he relaxed into a smile when he saw that it was her. “Angelica! It’s so good to see you. I’d hug you, but…” He gestured to his coat, which had gotten wet as soon as he stepped out of the car. “That asides, would you like to join me?”

Angelica smiled and stepped under his umbrella. “Thanks.” 

“Is that the article?” Lafayette asked, looking at her folder. 

“Yep!” She said, excitedly. “I finished it early and wanted to give it to him now.”

Lafayette opened the door, and gestured for her to go in first as he put down his umbrella. “That’s wonderful. Anyway, I’d stay with you for awhile, but I need to go talk to Ben. Tell me how things go after you talk to Alexander?”

Angelica nodded. “‘Course. Tell Ben I say hi.”

They seperated, Lafayette moving towards his desk and Angelica towards Alexander’s office. When she got there, she knocked lightly, opening the door at Alexander’s response.

“Hey, Angelica,” He looked up from whatever he was working on. “What’s up?” 

She held up the essay and he practically jumped out of his chair, rushing over to see it. “You’re done!” 

“I’m done!” 

Alexander flipped through the folder, Angelica shifting nervously as she waited for his reaction. Finally, he shut it and smiled. “It’s good.” 

“Are you sure? I thought it was really good when I wrote it, but now the more I think about it the less sure I am.”

“Wow, it’s not like you to be worried about the things us mortals have to, like not being perfect.” He set the folder on his desk. “Really, Angelica. It’s perfect.”

It was Alexander that finally made her calm down a little bit. Angelica had heard his scathing critique of writers; he was honest. He would have told her if her work truly was awful. 

“I’m going to go rush this and try to get it published tomorrow,” Alexander was still talking, walking around with seemingly no actual intention. “I’ll go talk to J-” He cut himself off, looking broken for half a second before instantly wiping it away. “Franklin. I’ll talk to Franklin and see if he has enough time.”

And the excitement was back. “Thank you so much, Alexander. For everything.”

“Yeah, whatever. This is totally all you being insanely talented.” 

Angelica smiled, regardless. “Still. Thanks.”

“Tell Eliza I say hi?” 

“I will. Also, if you hurt her I’ll kill you.” 

“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”

•

Angelica quite enjoyed making out with her girlfriend on the downstairs couch while everyone else slept. It was a rather nice sensation. Maria was warm and soft and Angelica loved her so, so much. 

There was a loud scratching sound and they immediately pulled apart, conditioned by ages of sneaking around behind the backs of so many to be wary of any sound. 

“It’s just the trees blowing in the wind,” Angelica said quietly, leaning her head onto Maria’s shoulder. “Nothing to worry about.”

Maria nodded, running her fingers through Angelica’s hair. “Every noise we hear, I think it’s James. He’s been worse lately. Drinking more. But at least he’s been home less.”

Angelica frowned. “I hate that you have to be with him.”

“Me too.” Her voice was soft. “I’m so sick of being scared.” 

Angelica heard Maria’s voice crack and her heart broke. “Shh, come here.” She pulled Maria into a hug, the other girl shaking slightly as she cried into Angelica’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Maria hiccuped, trying to wipe her eyes but mostly just smudging her eye makeup. “You’re most of the reason I can live with it at all. That I still have something to look forward to.”

Angelica just kept holding her in her arms, feeling so horribly helpless. 

•

The next morning, Angelica awoke to knocking on her bedroom door. 

“Come in.”

“Angelica?” Eliza cracked the door open, peering inside. It had to be early, if her nightgown and unbrushed hair was anything to go off of. “Alexander just called.” 

Angelica held back a sigh. She knew Alexander had an unorthodox sleeping schedule, but must he drag the rest of them down with him? “What did he say?”

“He wants to hold a press conference.”

It took Angelica an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out what was wrong with that statement. “Has nobody ever told that man that press conferences are held for journalists, not by journalists?”

Eliza giggled, bright and happy, and Angelica almost felt like some of her anxiety slipped away. At least somebody was happy. “I told him that. He said that he makes his own rules. And that it’s at nine, so if you want to be there, be there by eight-thirty.”

“What time is it now?” 

“Six.”

“Fuck.”

“Language.”

Angelica thought about throwing a pillow at her sister. “I suppose you and Peggy want to come to?” At Eliza’s confirmation, she continued. “I’m probably going to be leaving at eight, if you’d all like to go together.” 

“Yes, that would be lovely,” Eliza said, already sounding a billion light years away. “Come down for breakfast when you’re ready. I made pancakes.” And she left.

It wasn’t until Angelica stepped into the shower that it occurred to her that it was kind of odd that Eliza was up making pancakes at six in the morning. However, she pushed that to the back of her mind, having greater things to worry about that her sisters odd habits. Namely, Maria.

Angelica had been with Maria through a lot of really awful occurrences, but this was the first time she had ever seen her break down for seemingly no reason. Not that she actually believed that there was no reason; Angelica trusted Maria but also knew that she would leave out certain details if she thought they would worry Angelica. Especially if she knew that Angelica was already stressed. 

Angelica reached to shut off the water, trying to convince herself that if she was in a truly dangerous situation, Maria would have told her. 

Twenty minutes later, her hair was pulled into a tight professional bun and she was clean and crisp in an equally professional suit. She looked like a real reporter. Or maybe like Thomas Jefferson, although she was not sure how much of a positive or negative that was. 

Angelica went downstairs, finding both Peggy and Eliza dressed up and ready to go, Eliza putting the finishing touches on the two bows she was tying into Peggy’s hair. 

“Pancakes are on the table,” She said, not looking up. “They’re chocolate chip.”

“You’re a blessing, Eliza.”

“I know!” She said cheerily. “By the way, Alexander said to give you a warning that Jefferson will be there, just in case you would like to mentally prepare yourself beforehand.”

Angelica mimed slamming her head into the table. 

•

Luckily, the weather had quite cleared up so there was no issue of them having to take the bus. 

“Peggy, please don’t jump in the puddles,” Angelica said, right as her sister’s bright pink rain boots collided with the largest puddle they had seen thus far. “And I know you are not about to kick that water at me.” 

Peggy smirked, obediently stepping away from the puddle and linking arms with Eliza. “Sorry, mom.” 

Angelica tried to pretend that her heart did not just about leap out of her chest whenever Peggy called her mom, even jokingly. “Just try not to get your stockings completely drenched.”

They eventually arrived to a tiny section of grass a few blocks from Alexander’s office where a small group of people had gathered. 

“Lafayette!” Peggy squealed, immediately running over towards where the man stood on the edge and hugging him, nearly knocking him over. “You’re here!”

“Yes, hello.” Lafayette said, laughter tinging his voice. He looked up at Eliza and Angelica, smiling. “I didn’t know the two of you were coming to Jefferson’s press conference.”

The two exchanged a look.

•

“Alexander, what the hell?” 

Alexander jumped, nearly spilling coffee down his front. “Jesus, Angelica. Warn a guy before you start yelling at him.” 

Angelica ignored that. “This isn’t our press conference.” 

He didn’t even have the decency to look as if he felt bad for deceiving her. “Technically, it’s Andre’s, although he did ask if I and the author - or in this case somebody representing the author - could be present as well.”

Angelica glared. “Who on Earth is Andre?” 

“Technically, he’s Jefferson’s superior. Jefferson manages this branch, but Andre could kick Jefferson’s ass if he wanted to,” Alexander explained. “He’s not that bad of a guy, actually. Lived around here for awhile before he moved to London. I knew him in school and I think Eliza did too.”

Angelica tried to rack her brain for an Andre, but couldn’t come up with anything. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”

Alexander waved that off. “I’ll introduce you properly later. He actually likes me.”

“Shocking.” Angelica strained to see over the heads of the sea of people before her. “Is that Sybil? I’m going to go say hello.”

“Meet me before things start up. I’ll be off harassing Jefferson.”

Angelica grinned, dodging people to get to where the younger woman stood, kind of offset from the rest. “Good morning.”

Sybil looked up, and her face relaxed into an easy expression of happiness. “Hello, Angelica.” And suddenly her arms were around Angelica in a surprisingly strong hug from such a small girl. “I read the article this morning. Thank you so, so much.”

“I hope it helps you get the credit you deserve.” 

Sybil smiled even brighter. “Yeah. I think it’s really important for women to be printed, you know? I mean, I never would have began writing if I hadn’t read a book on Nellie Bly in elementary school.” 

“Yeah…” Angelica agreed, frowning. Something about what Sybil had said bothered her, and the more she thought about it, the more she realised that it was something that had been bothering her for awhile that she had just ignored. Angelica supported women being allowed to express themselves just as much and have as many opportunities as men. Yet here she was, writing under a man’s name. “Sybil, if you don’t mind, I need to go find Alexander. He and I need to talk about something.”

•

Alexander, as promised, was harassing Jefferson. Or at least that was how they appeared, with the taller man looking incredibly disengaged with the conversation. He also looked pale and tired and kind of sick, and for a second Angelica almost felt bad for him, but she quickly reminded herself that Jefferson did not deserve her pity. Even if he did have to put up with Alexander at his most annoying.

“Hi, Jefferson, I need to borrow Alexander for a second.” Angelica said, already pulling Alexander away, much to Jefferson’s apparent relief. “I’m not doing this.”

He looked confused. “The press conference?”

“No, the alias thing. I want my own name on this.”

Alexander blinked. “Angelica, I thought that the whole point here was for your writing to be taken more seri-”

“I don’t care.” She cut him off. “Plenty of women have been successful reporters and while it may be more work, we need more. I don’t want to write as a man.” 

Alexander broke into a huge smile, evidently excited with the concept of causing more drama. “I’ll see what I can do.” 

•

The conference had begun, and Angelica still was not sure what exactly Alexander planned to do, although he had pulled her aside to whisper that he had everything covered.

The two of them sat at a long table, along with Jefferson, Revere, and a man who had his face turned away so that Angelica couldn’t quite recognise him. 

A young man stepped forward from the sea of reporters before them to ask a question, directed primarily at Alexander. “May I ask how the author came upon proof of Revere’s transgressions?”

Alexander glanced at Angelica. “I think I would like to pass that question onto the actual author here, Angelica Schuyler.”

Angelica smiled gratefully at Alexander, leaning forward towards her microphone to answer the question. “We got information from an inside contact who wishes to remain anonymous. They were able to access a number of documents which we then used to find inaccuracies in the story Revere told me when I was interviewing him about his Pulitzer.” 

Next was an older man with a long white beard and heavy southern accent. “I’m sorry, I thought that the author was a gentleman named George Shirtliffe?”

“Yes, that was an alias I initially published under.” 

And then a woman stepped forward, hesitantly asking a question as she gripped her notepad. “What was it that made you decide to show your true identity?”

Angelica smiled. “I thought that, considering what has happened, it is important for women in journalism to get their own credit.”

A number of questions followed, some addressed to Angelica, some to Alexander, some to Revere, and some to Jefferson. Revere’s responses got more and more terse as they went on, while Alexander just seemed to be enjoying himself and Jefferson looked as if he wanted to drop dead on the spot. Eventually, the fourth man at the table stood up.

Angelica gasped, finally seeing his face, and leaned over to Alexander. “Who is that?”

“That’s John Andre,” Alexander whispered back. “I’m fairly certain I told you about him earlier.”

“I know him! I met him on the bus yesterday. He’s so...charming.”

“Trust me, I know.”

John Andre was speaking, and Angelica quickly began to listen. 

“I would like everyone to be aware that I am doing everything within my power to find out why this was allowed to happen. Mr. Paul Revere will no longer be writing for us, and I’m afraid Jefferson will be demoted to a regular level writer. However, I am happy to say that Mrs Abigail Adams will be stepping up to fill in the position of manager that he previously occupied. Thank you all, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. Schuyler included, for coming today.”

And slowly, the conference began dispersing. 

Angelica’s mind buzzed, completely elated by everything that had happened. This was so much more than they had hoped for. Alexander had predicted that Revere would be fired, but they had only thought that Jefferson would be reprimanded, not demoted. And the fact that Abby was stepping up to replace him was even better. A woman in a manger position? That was practically unheard of.

“Hey, Angelica!”

Angelica was pulled out of her thoughts by the approach of a very tall, very beautiful, woman with sleek dark curls and a very familiar man by her side. “Hello, Dolley. Mr. Madison.”

“It’s so good to see you.” Dolley beamed. “I trust you know my fiance, James?”

Angelica’s eyes widened. “You’re engaged?” She said, before she could catch herself. She winced. “Sorry, just...I just found out that the two of you were together the other day.”

Dolley laughed, leaning down to wrap her arm around Madison’s shoulders. “Yes, it has been forever since we’ve seen one another, hasn’t it? Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on your article. I quite missed seeing your work, and it did not disappoint. Even James was impressed.”

If Madison was really impressed, his face did not betray it. Angelica tried not to let that bother her, focusing instead on only Dolley. “Thank you so much. And yes, I would love to get together sometime. I’ve missed you too.”

After a few more exchanges of pleasantries, Dolley and Madison left her to her own device, the two of them seemingly lost in their own world. Angelica was surprised by how genuinely invested in their conversation they both seemed, the legitimate laughter Dolley responded with to whatever Madison was saying, and the way he turned bright red when she leaned down to kiss his cheek. 

“They’re sweet, aren’t they?” Lafayette said fondly, coming up beside her. “I’m glad James finally has an actual good relationship.”

Angelica nodded. “Yeah, I’m happy for Dolley.”

“Alexander wants to celebrate,” Lafayette told her. “He said to ask if you, Eliza, and Peggy would like to as well.”

Angelica hesitated for a second before answering. “Actually...could we maybe do something tonight? I would love it if my girlfriend could come, but she wouldn’t be able to if we didn’t do it later.” She waited anxiously, worried that Lafayette would comment on how she had never mentioned a girlfriend, or how it was weird that she could only go at night, or just anything else that could not be simply explained. 

But her worries were in vain. Lafayette smiled, so incredibly kind. “Of course! Name a time and a place, we can make it work.”

Angelica returned his smile, relief and affection filling up her insides. “How about my house, at nine?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! Sorry about the delay in update; I was two thousand words into the chapter last Friday when I realised I hated everything I had written. So I started over and I honestly think this came out much better than the original version.  
> Some notes:  
> 1\. A small reference to John Laurens this chapter. Not to say much, but I was listening to Neck Deep and for some reason that made me think of him and I feel bad about sending him away. So...take that as you will.   
> 2\. So part of the reason Maria can't leave Reynolds is because for divorsed women in the 50s, financial independency was basically impossible   
> 3\. efferson had the worst anxiety about public speaking, as I'm sure you're all aware. if i remember correctly, the only speeches he gave during his presidency were his two inaugural addresses. Vaguely referenced here.  
> 4\. In the 50s, only 6% of women held manager positions.  
> 5\. people thought James was really boring, but apparently witth Dolley and when he was comfortable he was really quite funny.  
> 6\. literally every relationship James was in before Dolley was a literal mess.  
> 7\. I love James and Dolley's relationship so much you guys. They were so cute. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, kudosing, commenting, etc! We are getting very near to the end now.


	18. Chapter 18

Alexander was happier than he had been in weeks. He had got what he wanted, and more. Jefferson and Revere were both ruined, and he was coming out of this on top.

It was almost enough to cover up how much he missed John Laurens.

“Are you okay?” Eliza said softly, taking Alexander’s hand in her own. “You look upset.” 

Alexander just squeezed her hand. She was being so, so sweet, but that only served to make him feel worse. He was sitting here, at a party, with a girl he cared very much about and who clearly cared about him as well, yet half his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of someone else. Neither John nor Eliza deserved that. 

“I’m going to go get some water.” Eliza stood up, letting his hand fall back into his lap. “Would you like anything?” 

“Water too, please.”

Eliza smiled, leaning down to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be back in a second.” She disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Alexander alone.

Of course, it was silly to think of himself as alone. Lafayette had struck up a conversation with a small blonde girl that Alexander knew he should have recognised only a few feet away, and Mary the Intern and Ben Tallmadge were sitting on the couch further down. There were literally people everywhere. Alexander may have been moody, upset, and generally self pitying, but he certainly was not alone. 

Maybe he wanted to be? Honestly, Alexander was not sure what he wanted. The idea of being alone made him feel guilty for thinking about John with no distractions, but being surrounded by other people only served to remind him that John was gone. It was weird; he had been so wrapped up in the thing with Sybil, Angelica, and Revere that he had hardly had time to be upset, but not that things were over, he was drowning in it. 

So, a compromise. He knew that Angelica was sitting on the stairs by the door, waiting for her girlfriend to show up. 

Alexander slid off of the couch, waving to Lafayette as the man’s eyes flickered over towards him. Everything was fine, the wave said. Keep talking to that girl you very clearly like, the wave said. 

Angelica was, in fact, still on the stairs, with a book sitting on her lap and a drink sitting on the floor next to her. “Alexander.”

“Angelica.” He responded, sitting down next to her. “What are you reading?”

She flipped her book over to reveal the cover of Frankenstein. “Have you abandoned my sister already?” 

“You would be sitting at a party reading Mary Shelley,” Alexander said fondly. “And she’s going to get water. And I’m coming to see what you’re up to. So, uh, what are you up to?”

“I’m still waiting for Maria,” Angelica said, shutting her book and hugging her knees to her chest. “She should be here by now. I’m starting to get worried.”

Alexander frowned, ignoring the thoughts of John that blossomed in his head. “I imagine she’s just delayed. We didn’t exactly set up the most exact time for this party.”

Angelica bit her lip. “Maybe.”

As if summoned by their conversation, there was a loud, sharp knock on the door.

Angelica sprung up. “That must be her,” She said, smiling brightly with the same kind of energy that Alexander knew he had when he spoke of John or Eliza. She hurried to the door, grasping in her pocket for the key, and opened it up. Alexander could not see outside from his position, but he could see the way her shoulders dropped. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” The voice of the person in the doorway had a very distinct southern accent and for a moment, Alexander thought he was either going to pass out or cry. This could not be happening. 

“What the fuck what the fuck what the actual fuck,” He muttered under his breath, almost falling down the stairs and into Angelica. Steadying himself, Alexander glared at the tall man before him. “John Laurens, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

John winced, not looking guilty enough for Alexander’s taste. “Alex, please.”

“No! Don’t fucking call me Alex, right now. I’m mad at you.”

He raised his hands, taking a step back in surrender. “Okay, I won’t. I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Alexander snapped. God, he could hardly breathe. He was so preoccupied with how ridiculously angry and happy and so so conflicted he was, that his body could hardly remember how to function. “Jesus, John. Why couldn’t you have told me anything?”

“Here, I’ll leave you two alone…” Angelica muttered, sliding away after putting a comforting hand on Alexander’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” John looked like he was maybe possibly going to cry, and that just made Alexander even more angry. What the hell did he have to cry about? He wasn’t the one left alone, left by his first friend, left with absolutely no explanation as to where the man he loved had gone. Alexander was. “Alex i- Alexander, it was my father. He...he insisted I had to go back, that he didn’t want me being around...bad influences anymore.” It did not escape Alexander’s notice how John hesitated before saying ‘bad influences’. He meant him. “Martha and James had to fight with him so much to get him to agree to let me come back, and that even took me promising I’d check in with Martha once a week. I swear, Alexander, I didn’t want to leave and I hated every second that I was gone.” John stopped, seeming out of breath. “I wanted to be with you, Alexander.” He looked so scared, so afraid that Alexander would not accept what he said, that Alexander just wanted to hug him. So he did.

“You’re such an idiot,” Alexander muttered against John’s shoulder, to which he laughed shakily. “Oh, don’t you dare cry, you asshole. You know if you cry, I’m going to cry.” 

“Sorry,” John pulled away, reaching up to wipe his eyes. “I just missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Alexander hated being emotional and he was about to say as much before a third person entered the room.

“Alexander?” Eliza said hesitantly. “Are you okay?”

Alexander turned around to respond, but Eliza, suddenly recognising the figure behind him, gasps. “Oh my gosh, John!” And she leaps forward, wrapping her arms around him. “You’ve come back!”

“I’ve come back.” John agreed.

Alexander looked between the two of them, feeling the tiniest bit sick. This was practically his worst nightmare. “John, Eliza. We need to talk.” 

•

Eliza agreed to let them use her room. She seemed to realise that this was a conversation that they needed to have in private, even though Alexander had not told her what it was. He felt a rush of affection towards her as the three of them rushed up the stairs and into Eliza’s room. 

Eliza shuffled around, clearing some books and papers off of her bed so that all three could sit down. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be coming up here today.”

Alexander wanted to tell her that it was fine and that the slight disorganisation was cute, but John beat him to it. The first part, anyway. Alexander decided that the second part really did not need to be said out loud. 

“What do you need to talk about?” John asked, reaching for Alexander’s hand. Because he was thoughtless, Alexander pulled away. Because he still cared too much about John, it hurt when he gave Alexander a confused, upset look. 

“Well, um…” Alexander looked at Eliza for help, but she just stared at him. Clearly, he was on his own. “John, a lot happened while you were gone. I didn’t know if you were ever coming back. I had no way of contacting you and as far as I was aware, I was never going to see you again.” He glanced at Eliza again, and she nodded reassuringly. “So...Eliza and I have kind of been together.”

Surprisingly, John really did not react. “Oh…” He said quietly, staring at his hands. “That’s...great. I’m really happy for you both.” 

“I’m so sorry, John.”

“No, it’s fine.” He insisted, wiping his eyes again. “I deserve this; I should have told you I was leaving. Besides, you don’t owe me shit.”

Still, Alexander felt guilty, and he was about to say as much when Eliza cut him off. “You are both being completely ridiculous.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Alexander, can we speak privately for a minute?”

This was not part of Alexander’s tentative plan. But fine. “In the hallway…?” He trailed off, looking at Eliza questioningly. She shook her head and pulled him into her closet.

“I thought you said that you didn’t want to hang out in closets anymore?” Alexander asked, pushing a dress out of his face so that he could actually see Eliza.

“I said I don’t want to hang out in closets at work any more,” She corrected. “I said nothing about hanging out in closets in the comfort of my own home. Anyway,” Suddenly the teasing tone left her voice and she became much more serious. “You like John.”

Alexander immediately went to protest, but she held up her hand and continued. “You like John. I like you. John likes you. I like John. Do you see where I’m going with this?” 

He just stared blankly, which all things considered, he thought was a fairly reasonable reaction. The past ten minutes had been some of the most emotionally overwhelming in his life. He deserved some degree of...well, obliviousness. 

“Alex,” Eliza took his hand, smiling so softly and brightly that Alexander had to convince himself that he hadn’t fallen down the stairs, passed out, and imagined this whole thing. “I know it’s strange, and unorthodox, and we’d have to talk a lot more and make sure things work, but I don’t see why we couldn’t maybe try to work something out between the three of us?”

Her voice shook a little bit at the end, and that was when Alexander saw the cracks in her expression. She was just as nervous as he was. 

Alexander thought back to the conversation they had had a few days earlier. “Are you sure you want this?” He asked her. “I know John coming back was a surprise, but nothing has to change if you don’t want it to.”

Eliza nodded. “I’m sure. If you want to and John want to, I think we should try this. So, shall we talk to him?” 

He nodded, and she opened the closet door.

•

John took the news about their idea both better and worse than Alexander expected.

On the worse side of things, there were a few seconds where it was touch or go whether he was going to have a complete panic attack or not. On the better side of things, he didn’t. And he seemed to like the idea.

“The thing is,” He said, still sounding anxious, although not as much as before. “I don’t know Eliza as well, and Alexander and I were already together. I don’t want to end up...ostracising you or something.”

“I would really like to get to you better,” Eliza said earnestly. “And no offense, but I can’t imagine you purposely ostracising me and I can’t imagine not working things out if you did so accidentally. This is experimental; things don’t need to work off the bat. We can learn.”

“If, of course, you want to.” Alexander added. 

John did not answer for a few seconds, but them his mouth curved into a small smile. “I would like to try.”

Alexander smiled at Eliza, who beamed back. 

•

A few minutes later, the three returned downstairs, their dynamic having almost fully changed since they first left the party. In fact, Alexander had almost forgotten that there was a party going on. Amazing how distracted one could be by two other people one liked very much.

Eliza and John had struck up a conversation about art, something Alexander knew next to nothing about (he had attempted a self portrait once and then promptly decided he would never be taking in any type of artistic endeavor ever again), but he found that he enjoyed hearing them speak regardless. It was relaxing. 

When they were almost to the bottom, Alexander lingering slightly behind, the doorbell rang. Angelica, who had resumed her waiting on the staircase while they were gone, hurried to get the door. She opened it to reveal a quite pretty young woman, oddly not wearing a coat even in the increasingly cold weather. Assumedly, Maria Lewis. 

“Maria?” Angelica said, her voice unusually high and sharp. “What’s wrong?”

That was when Alexander saw the tears streaming down her face and the way she shook so horribly. “James...he...I’m so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So, this chapter was a lot. Originally, it was supposed to be Eliza's POV and John was not supposed to come back at all, but I've decided to abandon my plan. We're totally in uncharted teritory now. Unfortunately, that means we've passed the final Eliza chapter, as both the next on and then the epilogue will be from Angelica's perspective.  
> Now, some notes!:  
> 1\. I just want everyone to know that I would die for Mary Shelley.   
> 2\. So irl, James Laurens was like ten years old when he died. However, in this universe I've decided he does not. Also, Martha Laurens seems lovely.  
> 3\. I don't know shit about Henry Laurens save the tower of london thing and I tried researching but could hardly find anything, so I apologise to anyone who does know shit about Henry Laurens for my poor portrayal of him. I'm sure he isn't as much of a prick as I write him.   
> 4\. I wrote the scene with John, Ham, and Eliza like five times and I still feel like it sucks? SO sorry.  
> 5\. Ham's self portrait is a real thing. Unfortunately, I can't find a like anywhere. This is homophobia. Please just trust me. It's awful.  
> 6\. I'm thinking I may just rush the ending and post a chapter next Saturday too. But I've got a ton of stuff going on with my a cappella group this week so I'm not sure. We'll see when we get there.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading/kudosing/commeting/etc!


	19. Chapter 19

Angelica’s body went into autopilot. 

“Hey,” She whispered, taking Maria’s arm. “Shh. Maria, I need you to calm down and tell me what’s going on. What did James do?”

“He-” Maria burst into a fresh bout of tears and a horrible idea occurred to Angelica as a renewed hatred towards James Reynolds burned inside of her.

“Maria?” She asked hesitantly, glancing over to her sister, trying to convey a message to get them out of here. “Did James do something to hurt you?”

Eliza, thankfully, had understood Angelica’s look and immediately jumped into action. She practically dragged John and Alexander out of the room, muttering something that Angelica could not hear. 

Maria shook her head, burying herself closer to Angelica. “No, he didn’t. God, Angie, I’m so sorry.” She looked up, Angelica’s heart breaking at the tears still clinging to her eyelashes. “He knows about us.”

That was everything that Angelica had been dreading for the past years. Suddenly she felt so cold, like everything about her was freezing from the inside out. “How? Maria, what happened?

“I had a letter from you tucked into a book. It was from right after we met, when we still talked primarily through writing. Do you remember the one where you wrote for like five pages on why people who think Mary Shelley didn’t write Frankenstein are awful? It was that one; that was always my favourite. It was what really made me like you and I liked it to be around. I didn’t think James would go through my books, so I figured I was safe. I still don’t know why he was reading Jane Austen, but I came home from work, called you, took a shower, and when I came down to leave, he was sitting on the couch holding it.” 

Maria paused, taking a moment to compose herself. “He...He confronted me about it and kept asking over and over again who you were and he said some...things and he kept getting more and more angry until I was terrified he was going to do something to me. But then the phone rang and it was from somebody from his work and he had to get it. He told me not to move. I took off the second he was gone. Angie, what do I do? I can’t go back to him; he’ll kill me. But I don’t want him going after you either. The letter didn’t have your address and it was only signed with your initials, but I don’t want to put you, Peggy, and Eliza in danger.” 

Angelica chewed on her lip, knowing that she had to try to remain calm even though she really wanted to panic. If she panicked then Maria would panic even more, and if they both panicked, there was no way they could possibly work this out. She took a deep breath. “Okay. Here, let’s go talk to Eliza and Alexander. If anyone is going to have an idea, it’s them.”

Maria nodded, running her hands over her face. “Okay. I can do that.” Angelica took her hand and together the two of them went into the sitting room.

Much to Angelica’s surprise, almost everyone was gone. Only Eliza, Alexander, John ( she still had no idea what he was doing there), Peggy, and Lafayette remained. Eliza noticed Angelica’s surprise and explained. “We thought it was best to clear out the place. So,” She crossed her legs so that she was perched on the couch besides Alexander like a child and leaned forward. “What can we do to help?”

Weirdly, that made Angelica want to cry even more than anything else in the past five minutes had. Just...holy shit. Here she was, in a room with a group of people who were willing to help her and somebody that they had literally never met. It was positively overwhelming. 

“James knows,” Maria said, and seeing the look Alexander and Lafayette exchanged, Angelica knew that her sisters had told them who James Reynolds was. “I need to get out of here. Quickly.” 

“Fuck…” Alexander stood up, pacing around the room. “Okay, my parents have a house in Florida. You could stay there for awhile, no questions asked, but I have no idea how we would get you there without some weird questions. And it would have to be a temporary measure because they rent it out in the spring and summer...fuck, it wouldn’t work at all, would it?” 

“I mean, we could all rent it?” John suggested. “I’m sure between all of us we could manage the expenses until Maria could find a better living situation.”

“No, they’ve got it booked out too far in advance. It would be a year before there’s a space.” 

Angelica was not going to cry (out of sheer willpower, if anything), but Maria quite possibly was going to, so she held her hand and squeezed tightly. 

“Really, don’t waste so much on me,” Maria said shakily. “A hotel is good enough. I just...I have no way to get any money now and I swear I would pay back the second I can-” 

“I know!” Lafayette sat up suddenly, cutting her off. “I have a friend; he’s...it’s a long story. He’s Irish, I met him when we both first moved here, and he told me if I ever need help disappearing, he’s the person to go to. Alex, stop looking at me like that.”

All eyes turned to Alexander, who was staring at Lafayette with an expression somewhere between horror and amazement. “Sorry. Continue.” 

Lafayette shifted in his seat, directing a small smile in Maria’s direction. “Herc can get you out of here and settled somewhere else on an extremely short notice. I can contact him now, if you want, and he’ll probably be ready by morning.”

Maria was squeezing Angelica’s hand so tightly that she could hardly feel her fingers, yet she still managed to compose herself, straighten, and look Lafayette in the eyes. Angelica had never been more proud of her. 

“Yes.”

•

Lafayette had called his friend immediately. They would be leaving first thing in the morning for a train to Seattle. It was quickly decided that it was easiest for everyone to just spend the night at the Schuyler’s house, so Peggy and Eliza had both moved into Peggy’s room, John and Alexander and Lafayette had moved into Eliza’s room, and Maria and Angelica moved into Angelica’s. Surprisingly, it was the first time ever that their lack of an extra bedroom had caused a problem. 

“You have so many blankets on your bed,” Maria observed, curling up next to Angelica. Angelica had a single bed, considering she was only one person, but Maria was short so even though Angelica was not, it worked out. They just had to be very close. “It’s snuggly.”

Angelica giggled at her word choice. “Snuggly it is. This house gets so cold at night, thus the blankets. Speaking of which, your feet are freezing.” 

“Sorry.” Maria repositioned herself so that her feet were not pressed up against Angelica’s legs. She was quiet for a few minutes, the two of them just laying together. “I’m going to miss you so much.” 

At first, Angelica did not say anything back. She had been thinking, ever since Lafayette had called his friend. And it was risky, but… “I could go with you.”

Silence, and then Maria. “You have a life here.”

“I could have a life in Seattle too.”

She made eye contact with Angelica, brow furrowed. “But your sisters. And Alexander. And the job. You’ve finally got what you wanted. I can’t take that away from you.”

“That job doesn’t matter,” Angelica protested. “People write no matter where you are. I can find a new one. And Eliza is an adult and Peggy will be soon as well. And frankly, I might have what I wanted now but I sure as hell won’t if you leave without me.” She stayed perfectly still, waiting for Maria’s answer. God, what if she said no? What if this did not mean as much to Maria as it did to her? What if the next morning would be the last time they ever saw each other?

Maria’s voice shook slightly. “I don’t think I can go on my own.”

Angelica laughed breathlessly, mostly out of relief, but also because she kind of really wanted to cry too. “Do you want to talk to Lafayette? I feel like it would be a bit...rude to not say anything until morning.”

Maria nodded, sliding out of bed and pulling her socks backup from where they had slid down before stepping onto the cold wood floors. “He’s in Eliza’s room?”

At Angelica’s confirmation, the two girls hurried down the hallway and Angelica lightly knocked on the door to Eliza’s room. Considering the light was still on, she was more than certain that the three within were still awake. 

“Oh my God what now?” John had already said before the door was even open. “Oh, shit. Angelica. And…” He leaned around to look behind her. “Maria. Hi.”

Angelica shared a puzzled look with Maria. “Uh, who did you…?”

“Peggy and Eliza have been alternating between coming in here to get stuff,” John explained dryly. “Serious at first, of course, but I hardly see why they need three different books, five shoes, and sixteen coloured pencils all in shades of blue and orange. Please tell me you are not involved.”

“We just need to talk to Lafayette.” Angelica said. 

“Oh!” That seemed to cheer John up immensely. “Yeah, he’s more or less awake. Come on in.”

True to what John had said, Lafayette really was best described as more-or-less-awake. He was leaning against Eliza’s bed (which Alexander was stretched across, reading some giant book that may or may not have been War and Peace) on a blanket, wearing a sweatshirt with the French flag across the front, and with his eyes half closed.

“Laf, you’ve got guests,” John said, tapping him on the head as he jumped onto the bed next to Alexander. 

“Oh, hello!” Lafayette quickly perked up. “Is everything okay?”

Maria looked anxiously at Angelica, who tried her best to smile reassuringly. “Would it be at all possible for your friend to take Angelica too?”

“We totally understand if not,” Angelica quickly added. “But if he could…” 

Lafayette did not seem particularly concerned. “Oh, I was wondering if you would ask that. Herc can transport up to three people. Although, I should probably call him anyway just so he knows. Angie, can I use your phone?” 

“It’s downstairs, attached to the wall in the same place it was earlier,” Angelica said, practically beaming and fully aware that she probably looked ridiculous. “Lafayette, you’re brilliant.”

Lafayette was already leaving to call his friend, but Angelica could still see the blush running up into his face. “Thanks.”

•

Lafayette called his friend, and Maria and Angelica found themselves again in Angelica’s bed. 

“I love you so much,” Maria whispered, curling up into Angelica’s side. “Thank you.”

“I love you too,” Angelica whispered back. She leaned down to press a soft kiss to Maria’s forehead. “And I can’t believe you thought that I wouldn’t want to go with you.”

“I mean, doesn’t it rain in Seattle?”

“It rains in New York too. And Seattle has good music, I’ve heard.”

“Well in that case, might as well just all pick up and move there.”

“I don’t remember you being so sarcastic when we first started dating.”

“Yes, you’ve been a great influence.” Maria giggled.

“I suppose we have changed on another a lot,” Angelica mused. “I think for the better.”

“I agree.” Maria ran her finger up and down the edge of their blanket. “I don’t think I could have ever left James otherwise. I was too scared.”

“And on a very different note, I think I was much more insufferable beforehand.” That made Maria laughed, and Angelica felt like she was flying at a hundred miles per hour. “But really. I’m so happy you’re making it out.”

“With you,” Maria corrected. “I’m making it out with you.” And slowly, they both were swept off to sleep.

•

Maria Reynolds, Angelica Schuyler, Eliza Schuyler, Peggy Schuyler, and Gilbert Lafayette arrived at the train station at exactly 9:15 in the morning.

Telling Eliza and Peggy had been exceptionally difficult. Mostly because they were so understanding. Watching the tears well up in Eliza’s eyes while she still smiled and said she was happy for her was both one of the saddest and sweetest things Angelica had ever seen, and Peggy asking if she would be able to visit for her graduation just about broke her heart. Yet they were going through with it anyway, because the world just wasn’t fair.

“Thank you so much, all of you,” Maria said for what had to be the tenth time since they first got into the cab at the Schuyler’s house. She anxiously adjusted the scarf they had covering her hair and enough of her face to make her fairly unrecognizable. “I know this is...a lot.”

“We just want you to be safe and happy.” Eliza promised, and Peggy nodded. “We understand this isn’t easy for you either.”

“I think that’s Herc there,” Lafayette said, straining to look past a group of people gathered around a map. “C’mon.”

The five of them hurried towards a very tall man, taller than Lafayette who, frankly, Angelica found to be unnecessarily tall himself. 

“Good to see you, Laf,” The man said, shaking Lafayette’s hand. He glanced between Peggy, Angelica, Maria, and Eliza. “I imagine two of you are the women I’m to be transporting?” 

“Angelica and I,” Maria spoke up. “I’m Maria. It’s nice to meet you, sir. And thank you so, so much.”

“Hercules Mulligan,” He said, shaking her hand. “Pleasure. If you’re both ready, I’d like to get going.”

Angelica turned back to Eliza and Peggy. “I’m going to miss you both so much.”

“Us too,” Eliza said, starting to tear up again. “We’ll call as soon as you get a number though. And write letters. And visit.”

“Don’t think you can get rid of us so easily,” Peggy added.

Angelica laughed, pulling both of her sisters into a hug. “I love you. Take care of yourselves.”

And then Lafayette, who had just finished exchanging a hug with Maria. 

“I’ll miss working with you,” He said, smiling nervously. “But I know Herc can get you somewhere safe.”

“Lafayette, thank you so much.” Angelica stood on her toes to wrap her arms around him. “This...I owe you so much.”

“No you don’t,” Lafayette disagreed. “This is basic human decency. You and Maria deserve that.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Hercules interjected. “But I’d like to try to get on before the platform gets much more crowded.”

“Right,” Angelica took a deep breath, taking Maria’s hand partly to steady herself and partly for the other girl, who looked just as terrified as she felt. 

After one last goodbye, Hercules took the two of them to a section of the train, where no seats were taken. “Here,” He said. “I’ll put your bags up. Get settled, it’s going to be a long trip.”

Angelica took the window seat, and Maria sat next to her, leaning her head on her shoulder. Eventually, before Hercules returned, the train began pulling away.

“Look,” Maria said suddenly, pointing out the window. “There they are.”

Lafayette, Eliza, and Peggy were still at the edge of the platform, all huddled together and clearly watching for them. Angelica waved, and she could see the minute that Eliza spotted them, as she immediately reached for Peggy and all three of them waved back.

Gradually, the train picked up speed and Angelica’s sisters and their friend vanished from sight, and eventually, New York City followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, this chapter. So I was all set on posting last weekend, right. One day in I was already like 500 words in so I figured I could take a day off to watch Sanremo (Non mi avete fatto niente was such a good song btw much better than last years) and I would be fine, right? Nope! My entire next week got eaten up by school. Then the chapter got delayed even further because there's something wrong with the joints in my fingers and can't type that great. But it's FINALLY done now!! And it only kind of sucks!!  
> Some notes:  
> 1\. I mentioned her like fifty times so I need everyone to know that I love Mary Shelley so much.  
> 2\. We got a War and Peace mention here just because Pippa Soo.  
> 3\. Sweatshirts were invented in the 1930s. I'm valid. And so's Lafayette.  
> 4\. I feel awkward calling Laf 'Gilbert Lafayette' but..I can't use his full name so?  
> 5\. Hercules is here! I felt bad about not including him so...here he is.  
> Thank you all for reading, etc!!!!  
> Coming up next chapter:  
> An epilogue, an ending, and Andrew Jackson (?)


	20. The End

Angelica’s favourite place was the balcony.

It was small, sure, and a little bit dirty, but she had bought a few plants to be set out there and even six months later, neither she nor Maria had managed to accidentally kill them. And the noise, different as it may be, from the street below their apartment reminded her of New York. 

Angelica had set out a table on the balcony, where she tended to lug out her typewriter when she wanted to get some writing done and it was so nice out that she loathed the idea of staying inside. 

About a month after she and Maria had relocated to Seattle, Angelica had gotten a job at The Seattle Times. It was a lot different and she had a lot less freedom than she had had with Alexander, but she could live with that. She had known what she was getting into when she had left. 

Besides, it was worth it. It was so, completely, worth it. 

It was windy that day, and every few minutes there would be a huge gust of wind that would send Angelica scrambling for her loose notes while simultaneously trying to keep the paper she was typing on from being ripped from her typewriter. She had just nearly fallen off the balcony grasping for a scribbled on notecard that may or may not have been important when Maria got home.

Maria had decided she wanted to get a degree and was enrolled in classes at a local college, something that Angelica was so ridiculously proud of her for even if it meant that they had much less time together than either of them would have liked. 

“I’m home!” Maria called, voice drifting musically through where Angelica had left the door cracked. “Angie?”

“I’m out here!” 

Maria quickly appeared, bending down to kiss Angelica’s cheek. “Whoops.”

Angelica reached up to touch her cheek. “Am I correct in assuming that ‘whoops’ meant that your lipstick stuck?” 

“I will neither confirm nor deny anything,” Maria smiled, leaning on the back of her chair. “But I would recommend looking in a mirror before we go to the airport.”

“How much time do we have?”

“About half an hour before we need to leave.”

“That works,” Angelica stretched her arms over her head before regathering her papers and dragging her typewriter inside. “I can take a shower and be ready by then.”

“Let’s hope so,” Maria said, grabbing Angelica’s coat, which she had left hanging on the back of her chair. “Alex was very stressed out about us being late on the phone last night and I think if we were to be he would absolutely implode.”

Angelica sighed dramatically. “One can only dream.”

Maria giggled, gently pushing her towards their small bathroom. “Go take a shower. I think Eliza would be very disappointed if we were to cause her boyfriend to implode.”

•

By the time Angelica was showered, dressed in nice yellow cropped pants and a flowered top, and out of the bathroom, Maria was ready to leave. She was perched on the edge of the couch with the fabric of her dotted skirt rolled up enough to reveal her mismatched socks as she flipped through a book. 

“I love your socks.” Angelica teased, lacing up her boots. “Isn’t that blue one mine?” 

“Maybe,” Maria swung her legs back and forth a few times, both of them staring at the socks. “Anyway, are you ready?” 

“Uh huh,” Angelica pulled on her coat as the two of them left the apartment. “You look cute.”

“You sound surprised,” Maria linked her arm through Angelica’s, her step very bouncy. “But thanks. So do you.”

Maria had, overwhelmingly, been happier ever since they had left. It had been lovely; Angelica had gotten to watch her bloom into someone impossibly vibrant and more confident than she had ever been before. In New York, Maria’s step had never been particularly bouncy. 

Outside, Angelica’s light blue car was parked in their parking spot. While there had never been particular use living in the city, soon after moving to Seattle, Angelica had learned to drive, Maria following a bit later. It was much more convenient, as they more often found themselves venturing out of the city and even for when they stayed local, the freedom was nice.

On the way to the airport, Maria flipped the radio on, both girls humming along with some song that Angelica knew she knew but also could not think of what on Earth it was called. 

“What time does their flight get in?” Angelica asked again, turning eventually into the airport parking lot. 

“Quarter ‘till four.”

Angelica pulled into a parking spot, on her left side because even after a few months, she hadn’t totally mastered parking somewhere that she couldn’t see the ground. “Good, we should be on time.” She paused. “Are planes usually on time?”

Maria shrugged. “I’ve never been on one.”

They walked into the airport. There was a surprisingly large number of people bustling around, tripping over suitcases, trashcans, and the odd child. 

“No wonder Alexander was concerned about us not being on time,” Maria said, stepping closer to Angelica as a woman pushed past her, trying to corral three small children. “This is...very chaotic.” 

“Apt analysis,” Angelica strained to see over the crowd pouring out of the deloading area. “It would be really nice if everyone would move away from the door, rather than stopping in front of it. At this rate, we’ll never find them.” 

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Maria said, her voice quite obviously reflecting the smile undoubtedly on her face. “Look!”

John Laurens, the only remotely tall person of the predominantly tiny group they were looking for, could be seen just above the crowd. Both girls waved, and soon he saw them and gestured to the two people with him. Soon, Alexander came into view, and then soon after, Eliza as well. 

“Hi!” Eliza said excitedly, immediately pulling Angelica into a very tight hug. “Oh my gosh, I’ve missed you so much! I know it’s only been a few months but it feels like it’s been years.”

“We talk on the telephone almost every week; it’s not like we’ve been out of contact,” Angelica teased, even though she totally understood what Eliza meant. The two of them and Peggy had been relying on one another for so long that it felt so odd to be apart, even with the telephone calls.

Eliza finally let go and moved to hug Maria as well, as Angelica shook John and Alexander’s hands. “It’s nice to see the two of you as well.”

“I’m glad you were here on time,” Alexander said, shifting his weight from one foot to another. “I was really concerned about that.”

Angelica cracked a smile. “Yes, you mentioned. Once or twice.”

“Or twenty times,” John added, nudging Alexander, who looked vaguely off-put. “Really, I’m just glad you’re here so that he’s finally stopped going on about that Jackson kid.” 

“Who’s ‘that Jackson kid’?”

Clearly, Alexander had been bottling a lot up.

“Andrew Jackson. He’s so...infuriating!” He ranted. “And every conversation I’ve ever had with him just totally ruins my day because he’s smart but he’s wrong and I can’t prove that he’s wrong so I just have to lie and say I have a phone call to make and then he goes away thinking that he’s like won or something.”

“Jackson is the new kid we hired to replace Arnold,” John explained, seeing the total confusion reflected on Angelica’s face. “Alex hates him. Personality-wise, they’re basically the same person, they just disagree on absolutely everything.”

Angelica raised her eyebrows. “If you hate him so much, why did you hire him?”

“That’s the worst part!” Alexander continued. “He didn’t seem awful in the interview and his resume was good. And Lafayette says that I can’t just fire him because he’s an obnoxious fucking-”

“Language,” Eliza cut him off, sweeping back over and holding John’s hand. “Are you talking about Jackson again? Also, don’t look behind you, but that father looks like he wants to murder you.”

“He is.” John confirmed, as Alexander made an elaborate show of looking behind him. “Again.”

“Who is Jackson?” Maria asked, joining the conversation as well. 

Alexander went to open his mouth again, but both Eliza and John loudly said “Don’t!” before he could begin. 

“A person they hired that Alexander really hates,” Angelica quicky explained. “Don’t ask him about it; you’ll regret it immediately.” 

“Noted.” Maria giggled. “Anyway, I think we’re blocking traffic the tiniest bit. Shall we go?”

“Yes!” Angelica said, taking one of Eliza’s suitcases for her. “I drove, by the way, and I don’t have the biggest car, so the three of you may have to squish together a bit.” 

“That shouldn’t be an issue.” Alexander muttered to Eliza, causing her to flush a brilliant shade of pink.

“Don’t say things like that in public,” She whispered, and Angelica felt her lips creep upwards into a smile. Her little sister, finally in a happy and fulfilling relationship. Eliza deserved it. 

They got to the car, Maria and Angelica in the front and Alexander, Eliza, and John in the back. 

“Jesus Christ, you weren’t kidding,” John said, nearly kicking Alexander in the leg. “Good thing Lafayette couldn’t come.”

“How’s Laf doing?” Angelica asked, backing out of the parking spot and starting down the road. “We haven’t got to talk to him in awhile.”

“He’s visiting Adrienne in France.” Alexander said, nearly kicking Eliza. “Left same day as us, actually. Says he’s finally going to propose.”

“Well, it’s about time,” Angelica said. “He’s had that ring for how long now?”

“Over a year. Said he was waiting for ‘the right moment’. I told him that a good moment would probably be before her parents got sick of him.”

“Oh, speaking of Lafayette,” Maria said suddenly. “I made a scarf for him. To thank him for...everything. I was hoping you could take it back to give to him?”

“That’s so sweet!” Eliza said, somehow nearly kicking John even though there was literally a whole person between them. “And of course.”

“Yeah, Lafayette’s always saying he’s cold, so he’ll love it.”

“Yes, Lafayette is the one who’s always cold.” John said dryly. “Not you, Alex, you’ve never crawled up against me at four am with your freezing hands and told me you want extra blankets because you don’t want to get out from under the five you already have.”

“That’s a very specific scenario,” Maria commented. “John, I’m so glad you’ve never had to experience that before.”

“God, did you guys plan this trip just to make fun of me?” Alexander grumbled, leaning onto Eliza. “I’m glad you love me at least.” 

“Yeah,” Eliza twisted her fingers around a strand of his hair. “I’m glad I love you at least, too.”

Eventually, they all lapsed into quiet, broken on occasion by John spotting a building or a tree or a river or something and asking Maria about it. Meanwhile, Eliza and Alexander curled closer together, both of them clearly very tired. 

“I know that we were going to go out for dinner tonight,” Angelica eventually said as they got closer to her and Maria’s apartment. “But would you all rather just have something at home? We’ve got really good pasta.”

“If you don’t mind,” Eliza yawned, “That would be really nice.”

“I like pasta.” Maria agreed. And thus, they were decided.

Eliza, John, and Alexander were there, they were going to eat leftover pasta, and when they stopped at a redlight, Angelica reached over to hold Maria’s hand. John Reynolds, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere had nothing on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting on a Thursday night like two weeks after this was supposed to be done? Guess this is a thing now.  
> Notes:  
> 1\. So airplanes got big and commercialized and all that in the late 1950s. I'm saying it's realistic for them to fly to Seattle.  
> 2\. I know the addition of andrew Jackson makes no sense, but I think it's one of the greatest tragedies that he and Hamilton never met more than once or twice. I want to see fight.   
> 3\. On that note, before Eliza cut him off, Ham was going to call AJ a 'bitch ass white boy' because right now that phrase is so amusing to me.  
> 4\. We're done!!! I'm never going to be happy with this ending, but we're still done!!! Honestly, those of you who hung out until the end deserve a fucking medal because this whole story was a wreck.   
> 5\. So what now? Currenty, I have nothing else planned in this universe. However, I have two big multi-chap things planned. One is a Raven Cycle inspired Hamilton AU and the other a Great Comet multi-chap thing based on The Secret History and If We Were Villains but rather than Greek/Shakespear they're all choir kids in an a capella group. I currently have the Ham one planned out at over thirty chapters and still have a lot to go so...there's that. Other than those two, I'm hoping to post my super self-indulgent, historically imporbable, Hamilton fanfic where, uh, Burn takes a very different turn. And my even more self-indulgent modern au where Katherine of Aragon and Arthur Tudor live happily ever after. So...yeah. Lots of fun stuff in the future if any of y'all want to hang around.  
> 6\. Speaking of which!! My tumblr is still penguinsarebetterthanpeople if anyone wants to hang out there.  
> 7\. Thank you so much for reading this mess everyone, and thank you even more to anyone who kudosed/commented!!!!! You guys are everything.  
> 8\. Happy women's history month!!!


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